The Seduction of Adrien Agreste
by BeautifulMessenger
Summary: Over a year has passed since graduation and Hawkmoth's defeat. Ladybug and Chat are using their honeymoon to search Tibet for Adrien's mother. With a powerful and mysterious evil loose, Adrien doesn't want to risk anything that might get Marinette pregnant. Marinette has other ideas. Sequel to The Cat and the Mask.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: This is a sequel to The Cat and the Mask, which can be found on my author page. I will do my best to weave necessary exposition into the story as naturally as possible. But if you haven't yet, I highly recommend you read TCATM first.**

 **Follow me on Instagram for updates on my original novels, bookish things, and cute pictures of my pets! na_davenport**

—

With quick light strokes of her stylus, Marinette added the finishing touches to her latest design. The hand stitched lace wrapping up from the hem of the gown would be a very delicate and time consuming job. And getting it to hang right, without twisting the fabric or weighing it down too much, would take a good deal of ingenuity. But the resulting effect would be breathtaking.

She stuck the plastic stylus between her lips and chewed lightly on the end, a bad habit carried over from working with pens and pencils in her old paper notebooks.

"Maybe the train is too much. A little old fashioned, don't you think?"

Tikki floated low over the screen, examining the dress design Marinette had been working on for the past several hours. "Not at all, Marinette. I think it's really pretty," she chirped, smiling up at her mistress with shining blue eyes.

Marinette chuckled. "You say that about everything."

"Well, everything you design is really pretty!" Tikki laughed.

Marinette rolled her eyes and grinned at the little red bug kwami. Tikki was truly the embodiment of the force of creation in a package scarcely the size of Marinette's hand. But it was hard to think of her that way when she was being so cute.

"Well, if the ceremony or reception ends up being outside, a dragging train might get dirty. I think a tea length dress would be cute, and it would keep the hem clean. Then everyone would be able to see the shoes, too…" She started erasing the lower portion of the dress, undoing hours of careful work.

"Marinette!" Tikki squeaked. "What are you doing? The dress was perfect!"

Marinette shook her head. "No. It was good, but not perfect. And if I'm going to be getting married to Adrien, I have to have an absolutely perfect dress."

Tikki landed on the desk and stared up at her mistress, furrowing her little brow in frustration. "I never thought you would end up being a bridezilla." She rolled her eyes and sat down with a sigh.

Marinette paused. "Am I, really? Tikki, am I making everyone miserable?" Was this why Adrien…?

Tikki laughed and shook her adorably oversized head. "No, not everyone. Only yourself. You should relax a little. You don't even have a date for the wedding yet and you're tying yourself up in knots over it."

Marinette looked at the half erased design on her tablet, biting on her lower lip. Tikki was right. They didn't have a date set yet. But this was actually a big part of the problem.

She and Adrien had discovered each other's identities as the superheroes Ladybug and Chat Noir. They'd confessed their love for one another. And, eventually, Adrien had proposed to her.

But he'd only proposed because she'd threatened to run off by herself to find his mother, who was missing somewhere in the remote parts of Tibet. Adrien wouldn't let her attempt that rescue mission alone, and the best way for them to go together, without arousing suspicion, was for them to be married. It was a good plan, really. But it made the whole engagement feel like a cover up. A sham.

And if that wasn't bad enough, he seemed to be distancing himself from her lately.

She sighed. Things used to be less complicated between them. Back when they had first learned each other's identities, Adrien had been quite willing to be affectionate with her. He'd exulted in the new freedom of being himself with her, while she was still holding on to the remnants of her nervous awkwardness around him. So, for a while, he'd been roguish and flirty, constantly trying to steal kisses and sneaking away to be alone with her.

Things changed when his father died. Perhaps Adrien blamed himself, somehow, for his father's death. It would be irrational and unjustified, but grief often is irrational. Finding out that his father had been Hawkmoth—the man they'd been waging war against together for years—and that he'd died all at once? And not just died, but sacrificed himself in a final act of desperation to save Adrien. She would have been surprised if it hadn't messed with his head a bit.

She didn't understand why he was distancing himself from _her_ , though. He still wanted to be with her. He kissed her willingly enough. But he'd stopped being the same carefree, brazen flirt she'd known and loved before. He no longer made any attempt to visit her bedroom. He only invited her to his condo during the day, making sure to see her home by dinner time. And their romantic encounters always seemed to come to a close prematurely, without even a hint that anyone was going to be shedding articles of clothes.

He needed time, that was it. Who wouldn't need time after what he'd been through? She would be patient and try not to let it get to her. She could always comfort herself by working on wedding planning.

While she was creating planning boards, designing dresses, and discussing cake options with her parents, it felt a little more real. Like they really were just two people in love who were getting married because they wanted to, not two superheroes who were using a wedding to cover up a clandestine scheme.

She ran her thumb over the rose gold ring on her finger, the engagement ring Adrien had given her. It sparkled dimly in the light from her tablet.

He did love her, she knew that. But something about using her wedding—or, more specifically, their honeymoon—as a coverup just didn't sit too well with her.

She sighed, rested her head on her hand, and ran her stylus over the screen again, filling in the bell shape of a tea length skirt and started adding a swirling cascade of lace around the hem.

The door opened in front of her and a beam of yellow light flooded into the room. She looked up, to see Adrien's tousle-haired silhouette framed in the light of the doorway. His kwami, Plagg, hovered over his right shoulder.

She blinked, a little surprised at how dark it had gotten in her office. How late was it?

"Hey, princess! There you are." Adrien's voice was like warm butter, and filled her with a mixture of conflicting emotions, most of them good.

He flipped a switch on the wall, filling her office with light, and smiled at her.

All of the desks out on the design floor were empty already. Almost everyone else in the building had gone home hours ago, which explained why Tikki had been so comfortable sitting in plain sight on her desk.

"Working late?" He smirked, a very Chat Noir-like expression, and walked across the floor toward her. "Did you lose track of time again?" He stepped around her desk to see what she'd been designing on her tablet.

Marinette bit her lip watching him approach. Did he have to look so impossibly gorgeous all the time? Even in simple casual work attire?

Tikki flew off the desk and embraced Plagg in midair. The two kwamis zoomed once around the room together, then flew out, probably heading to the break room where Marinette kept a stock of cheese and cookies for them.

"Well…sort of," Marinette said, answering Adrien's question. "I'm designing a wedding dress… for myself."

Adrien hesitated for a second, then said, "Oh? Good. That's good. Yeah. It looks really pretty."

Marinette struggled to contain an eye roll. She hadn't failed to notice his moment of hesitation. "It might take a while to put it together, though. Especially with all this lace. If I knew when our wedding was going to be, I'd have a better idea of—"

"Go ahead and start it now," he interrupted. "It wouldn't hurt to have it made early, right?" Adrien grinned at her like he was giving her a present.

She frowned. "No, I guess it wouldn't hurt. But, still, there are a lot of other things for the wedding that are time sensitive. Like invitations and catering, and renting the venue. Don't you think we should set a date soon?"

His smile faltered a little and he shrugged. "We will. Of course we will. But there's still a lot of preparation to do before we go to Tibet. I don't want to miss anything. We've barely scratched the surface of all the journals my father kept. And there are so many unanswered questions about where they went and what they were doing there. We can't just jump in blindly."

Marinette huffed in exasperation and looked away, suddenly stifling tears. Of course he was right. If they got married right away, without having an idea of where they should go in Tibet to look for his mother, or what they should do when they got there, they would surely run into trouble.

Adrien's father had been with his wife when she'd disappeared. He'd perhaps been the only person alive who really knew what had happened to her. Even though he was gone now, he had been a meticulous man who kept extensive and detailed records. When he died Adrien had inherited everything, including his vast collection of journals and artifacts, a veritable mountain of information. Sifting through it all to find what was useful for their quest was taking practically forever.

Bringing up these truths didn't make Marinette feel any better, though. It only reminded her that getting married to Adrien, something she'd been dreaming about for years, was going to be a show put on for the world. They would be saying "I do", but it would be as secret personas for an ulterior motive, not really as themselves. Maybe if Adrien hadn't been acting distant from her lately it wouldn't be such a problem.

"Marinette? What's wrong?" Adrien's fingertips traced under her jaw, lifting her chin up so that she faced him. "Why are you crying?"

She shook her head. "I just… I want it to be real. Doing it like this makes it feel like a show. I want you to marry me because that's what you want to do, not because it's convenient for Ladybug and Chat Noir."

His eyes widened in shock. He knelt next to her, wrapping his arm carefully around her shoulder. "But it is real! Marinette, I love you! More than anything! And I want to be married to you. It's not just a show, you know that, right?"

Marinette wiped her eyes and sniffed. Now she felt guilty, too, but she still wasn't satisfied. She didn't doubt Adrien's love for her, not really, but scheduling their wedding around their secret superhero schedules just felt…artificial.

"I love you, too," she said. "And I know you love me. But can't we… can't we just set a date now? We can still give ourselves time to gather all the information we need. Why don't we set it for this spring?"

Adrien heaved a deep sigh and—to Marinette's annoyance— took back his arm. "I just don't know if that will be enough time. I know it's frustrating for you; it is for me, too. Once we open up all those boxes and go through everything, we'll have a better idea of what we're looking at."

It was maddening talking to him like this, like they were speaking two different languages. Marinette groaned and covered her face with her hands, attempting to stifle her frustration. Not succeeding.

"Forget the cover up!" She turned to face him with tears of anger in her eyes.

He stared, stunned by her outburst.

"I don't care about the cover up anymore! Once we're married, who cares if we take another "vacation"whenever we want?" She made air quotes for "vacation" to get her point across. "We'll be married and we can go places together whenever we want to, without anyone ever questioning it, right?"

He pressed his lips together and leaned back, nodding his head thoughtfully. "Well, I suppose so, but then we might have other obligations after we're married. It might not be so easy…"

"What other obligations? The business? Moonlighting as superhero vigilantes? We do those things already!"

"I wasn't thinking of that exactly—"

"Then what?" she demanded.

He shook his head and chuckled. "You know what? I totally got off track. I actually came here to talk you about a vacation we might take together next week." Adrien smiled, obviously trying to distract her.

It worked. "Huh?"

"Your grandmother called me. She's been trying to get ahold of you all evening, but your phone is on silent."

"Grandma Gina called me?" She pulled her phone out of her bag. Sure enough, she had five missed calls.

"She wants us to go visit her in Florence," Adrien was still grinning.

"Together?"

"Yeah. Sort of an early Christmas celebration, I guess. We'll be back here in time to spend Christmas Day with your parents."

"We're going to visit my grandma together?" She could hardly believe it. Not that Adrien would want to visit her grandmother, of course. He'd met Gina during their graduation and the two of them had really hit it off. But she was surprised that he would be okay with both of them leaving on such short notice.

Adrien had inherited his father's business along with all his money and properties. _Gabriel_ was a world leader in fashion, worth billions of dollars, and it took a lot of managing. For his youth and experience level, Adrien had done remarkably well. One of his earliest and smartest moves had been hiring Marinette as his partner and new head of the design department. With Adrien's natural gift for diplomacy and Marinette's gift for design, they had kept Gabriel's sudden death from running the brand into the ground. Instead, the'd launched it into even greater heights of success.

So it seemed counterintuitive that they would just run off to Italy for a week on the spur of the moment, even to visit Marinette's grandma Gina.

"I love your grandmother!" Adrien laughed. "Are you kidding? She's one of my favorite people. And I think we've been working too hard lately. It would be good to get away for a little while."

"But can we really just leave?" She gestured vaguely in the direction of the design floor.

Adrien scoffed. "The spring line is already out, thanks in a big part to you, I might add. The summer line is well underway. I can leave Campeau in charge of administration for a while. He's trustworthy and capable, maybe even ready for the challenge."

"And what about our other jobs?" She gestured toward the windows overlooking the city.

"I think Paris can handle a week without Ladybug and Chat Noir. Maybe you can call up Rena Rouge to do our rounds. I bet she'd love it."

"She definitely would," Marinette laughed. Rena Rouge, the part time Fox super-heroine, and also Marinette's best friend Alya in her regular life, would pounce at the chance to go full time for a week.

Adrien stood up and held out his hand to her. "What do you say, partner? Shall we visit your grandmother together?"

Marinette grinned at him, took his hand, and stood.

Adrien might think that he'd won their argument about the wedding. He might believe that he'd completely distracted her. But he was wrong. Marinette knew that if there was any woman in the world who could persuade a reluctant fiancé to tie the knot, it was her grandmother, Gina Dupain. And she was absolutely positive that her grandmother would be on her side. She was about to gain a very powerful ally.

Marinette wrapped her arms around Adrien's neck. He smiled and leaned in to bring his lips softly against hers for a moment.

"I would love to go visit my grandmother with you," she grinned.


	2. Chapter 2

"You be sure to call me when you get there," Marinette's dad reminded her, for the tenth time.

They were standing outside of the airport where her dad was dropping them off at the entrance to the ticketing area. Adrien was hoisting their luggage out of the car and keeping a respectful distance from Tom Dupain.

"Don't worry, dad. We'll be fine. I'll give you a call as soon as I can after we land, okay?"

He nodded his head, a little stiffly, and looked over at Adrien. "Take good care of my baby girl, understand?"

"Dad! I'm not a child!"

"Yes, sir." Adrien was all politeness. "She'll be safe with me."

Marinette rolled her eyes, but gave her father a tight farewell hug anyway.

"You take care of your grandma, too, okay? Let me know how she's doing?" He rumbled in her ear.

"You got it, dad."

"All right. You two'd better get going," he added, gruffly.

"See you next week!" She answered, lifting her carry-on bag and heading toward the big double doors with Adrien following at her heels.

"Phew!" Adrien sighed, once they were out of sight of her father.

"Still afraid of him?" Marinette giggled.

"Only when he wants me to be. I'm sure he fantasizes about cooking me in that big oven of his."

"Only because he suspects that you haven't always been a perfect gentleman with me. And because he still thinks of me as twelve years old girl."

Her father had started eyeing Adrien with dark suspicion over a year ago, when, after going out on a date with him, she'd called them from the hospital and they found her there wearing a set of Adrien's clothes. Of course, Ladybug had needed to borrow the clothes for an emergency change when her transformation wore off, but there was no way Marinette could explain that to her parents. So she had to let their suspicions remain as they were.

Adrien scoffed. "I've always been a perfect gentleman with you!"

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "I know. So many missed opportunities. It's too bad."

The words were out before she really thought about what she was saying, surprising herself. She didn't understand what had compelled her to give voice to her feelings. Maybe she was going crazy. Maybe it was just something that had been building up for a long time and had finally reached a critical mass.

Adrien froze behind her in line to check their luggage, staring blankly at her for a few seconds. Then he snapped out of it and caught up.

"You remember what Master Fu said. We can't," he hissed in her ear.

Master Fu, the ancient guardian of the miraculouses and kwamis, in his inestimable wisdom, had advised Marinette and Adrien against any activities that might lead to Ladybug becoming pregnant. His reasoning was that the delicate condition she would be in might leave her unfit to battle villains with Chat Noir. It would be too hazardous for both herself and the baby. And then, once their bundle of joy was delivered, they would have the obligation of a new baby to take care of, which would undoubtedly interfere with their hero work.

He advised that they should at least wait until they'd defeated the evil force that had created Hawkmoth before thinking about starting a family.

"Yeah, I know. But we are engaged, after all, and it's not like we wouldn't be careful…," she murmured, blushing. She hadn't really intended the conversation to go this far. She hadn't intended to start this conversation at all.

Adrien's face reddened, but he didn't answer. It was their turn to check their baggage, so they approached the counter. They filled out luggage tags, paid the fee, and handed over their trunks.

"Look," Adrien said, swinging his bag over his shoulder and glancing around at the people walking past them, "maybe this isn't the best time to be talking about this."

"No, you're right. It probably isn't."

He nodded, relieved, and glanced up to look for the signs indicating where their gate was.

"But, just so you know, I'm open to the idea."

His wide eyes darted to her face, stunned again.

Marinette saw the sign for their gate, grabbed his hand, and pulled him along with her.

Adrien didn't say anything to her while they found a seat and waited for their flight to board. He just leaned back against his chair, ran his hand through his hair, and sighed, lost in thought.

They were flying first class, of course, so the two of them were among the first to board when the plane was ready. Marinette settled in by the window while Adrien sat next to her by the aisle, stowing their carry-on bags under the seat. He still didn't seem inclined to talk, so Marinette brought out a book she'd been reading and lost herself in the pages while the plane finished loading.

The flight attendants gave their usual presentation of pre-plight instructions and the plane taxied out to the runway and took off. The roar of the engines drowned out all other noises around them, making it easier to have private conversations.

Adrien leaned in toward her and placed his hand on her arm to get her attention.

She looked up.

"I don't think it's a good idea," he said., close to her ear.

She knew exactly what he was talking about. "Why not?"

"Marinette, we both know what kind of bad luck I have. Chances are, no matter what…precautions we take, my bad luck will get in the way."

"Bad luck? But you don't always have bad luck. It's only when…" Only when he was Chat Noir, the black cat superhero of Paris. His power of bad luck balanced out Ladybug's power of good luck. The two opposing forces worked together, in harmony.

He shook his head. "I think it's more than that. That night after the fashion show, wouldn't you say my bad luck was at work then?" He was gazing at her, very seriously.

Marinette winced. He was referring to the night his father died. The night he himself had temporarily died as well.

Ladybug had pitched battle against an akumatized villain alone. Adrien's father, whom they later learned was the villain Hawkmoth, had suspected that his son was Chat Noir, and prevented him from going to her aid. In the end, she had brought the fight to them hoping to get Chat's help, but Adrien didn't have a chance to transform. He'd run into the fight as himself to protect Ladybug and gotten himself mortally wounded. Shortly after this, Gabriel finally managed to steal both Chat's ring and Ladybug's earrings and used the combined power of their kwamis to trade his life for his son's.

"I don't know," Marinette answered. "I can't say for sure whether that was miraculous bad luck or just the regular variety."

"It's the only way to explain how balance was maintained," he murmured. "There was no cataclysm. So how else could it have balanced out?" He sighed. "If it was only something less dangerous… but it's your life that's at stake." He took her hand and wove his fingers through hers, leaning in so close his forehead touched hers. "I can't take that risk. Later, when it's safer, then we can try."

"Anything to drink?" The flight attendant smiled at them, pushing her cart up alongside their row of seats.

"Just water for me," Marinette said, forcing a smile in return.

"The same," Adrien added.

Marinette decided to drop that uncomfortable subject for the moment. Her fickle fiancé was right, after all. Having this discussion in public was exceedingly awkward, but she wasn't ready to give up the fight yet.

It might not be so far fetched to think that it was supernatural bad luck that had caused his (and subsequently his father's) death the summer before last. She had used her lucky charm without Chat present to balance it with his Cataclysm. Their kwamis had warned them that her good luck and power of creation must be balanced with his bad luck and power of destruction. If they weren't, disastrous things would happen. So maybe what had seemed like a freak accident had actually been a consequence of the imbalance she had caused.

But did it really follow that his bad luck would somehow cause her to get pregnant? To her, it didn't make sense at all. But that was apparently what Adrien was worried about.

She glanced over at her paranoid fiancé. He had his tray table lowered and was making a few notes in his leather journal, the same journal she'd given him for his eighteenth birthday. It was in this book that he saved all the relevant pieces of information he found regarding his mother. He must be using their travel time as an opportunity to compile and organize his thoughts.

Adrien noticed her watching him and looked up, raising a questioning eyebrow.

Marinette leaned in. "I'll drop it for now. But I'm not convinced it would be dangerous."

He sighed. "Fair enough."

When they landed at the Amerigo Vespucci Airport, Gina Dupain greeted them literally with open arms. "Marinetta my fairy! I'm so thrilled to see you! And your handsome tesoro, too!" She rushed through the crowd at Marinette and embraced her, then did the same to Adrien, a little awkwardly because they were both still carrying luggage.

"I'm so glad you two could come and visit me. It's been far too long! I can't even remember the last time I got to see your sweet face."

"It's only been since graduation, grandma." Marinette laughed. Of course she knew her grandmother was exaggerating and remembered perfectly well when she'd visited last.

"That was year and a half ago! I know I've been traveling a lot, but I do miss my darling fairy. Now tell me, how are your parents doing?"

"They're doing really well, except for being swamped with work. Christmas is one of the busiest times of the year for the bakery."

"Oh dear." Gina frowned. "I hope they aren't working too hard."

Marinette smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. I think my dad secretly enjoys it. It's like a game for him, seeing how many orders he can fill in one day."

Gina laughed. "Just like my Tommy to see things as a game. He always had a competitive streak. And you, Adrien! Come here. It is such a joy to see you, too!" She hugged Adrien again. He chuckled uncomfortably in the embrace. He didn't seem used to all the hugging.

"I have so much planned for your visit!" Gina exclaimed, taking one of the bags from Marinette and leading them to the door. "I'll call a taxi. Have you two eaten anything? You're going to love Firenze at Christmas time! Ice skating and live theater and carols and the _fierucola dell'immaculata!_ "

Gina continued gushing the whole way outside where they hailed a taxi. Marinette caught Adrien's eyes a few times and they smiled together in amusement.

" _Via della Colonna,_ " Gina announced to the driver while they loaded themselves into the cab. Then they started down the road toward the city of Florence.

"So , Marinetta, have you been helping your parents with the bakery much lately?"

Marinette turned from gazing out the window at the question. "No, I'm afraid not, grandma. I've been very busy with my own job."

"Oh, yes, that's right. Tom told me. You got a job doing something in clothing design? You were always such a talented little artist."

Marinette couldn't help giggling. "Yeah, that's basically it. It keeps me pretty busy."

Adrien grinned at her. "Marinette is being modest. She's a genius designer, really the greatest asset _Gabriel_ has."

"Of course she is," Gina gushed. "And it's only appropriate that this is how you see our darling Marinetta."

They all three laughed at this, and then Gina turned on Adrien and started drilling him with questions. Marinette took the opportunity to call her father as she'd promised.

"Marinette?" He answered on the second ring. "You guys made it okay then?"

"Yeah. We landed about twenty minutes ago and I finally got the chance to give you a call. We found grandma Gina just fine and we're on our way to her place now."

"Good, good! I'm glad you got there okay." There was a crash from the background. "Sabine! Wait, I'll come help with those!"

She heard her mother's voice in the background, sounding irritated and embarrassed, but not hurt.

"Is mom okay?" Marinette gasped.

"Don't worry, sweetie. She just dropped a tray of chocolate croissants pulling it out of the oven."

"Was it one of the new stoneware baking slabs?" She grimaced, remembering how heavy those things were. She'd tried to lift one when they'd been delivered last week and it felt like she was going to break her wrist. They did make very excellent pastries, though.

"Yep. I'd better go help her clean up. Call me if you need anything. And send lots of pictures, okay?"

"Yeah, no problem dad. I will."

It definitely sounded like they were busy at the bakery. Marinette chuckled. Maybe this would convince her dad to set a lower limit to his custom order list. Ever since the bakery had been featured on a reality show—a disaster the likes of which had never before been witnessed on live television—her dad had started setting monthly limits for custom orders. Usually the slots were all filled the first day of every month.

The drive from the airport to Gina's apartment in the city took only twenty five minutes. Marinette watched in awe as they were swallowed up by rows after rows of ancient buildings in varying shades of beige, with the occasional highlight of forest green. All of the buildings were between three and five stories tall with scarcely a gap between, completely obscuring the horizon on all sides. It made the whole city feel like an enormous labyrinth.

Their driver navigated through the confusing maze with well practiced ease, expertly weaving around pedestrians and mopeds. Almost every road was a single lane wide. And even these were often occupied with dumpsters, parked cars, or bicycles and mopeds lining the curb. They had to drive up over the sidewalk more than once to get through a narrow gap.

When their taxi deposited them in front of a large beige building, which looked exactly like all the others, Adrien refused to let Gina pay the fare. He handed the money over himself before she had a chance to protest, and of course she made a fuss over how much of a gentleman he was for the gesture.

The two travelers barely had time to drop their luggage in Gina's apartment before she whisked them away on their first adventure.

In Florence, walking or riding a bike are the best ways to get around. The three of them had only taken a taxi from the airport because of their luggage. So, bundled in jackets, scarves, hats, and gloves they ventured forth into the historic city.

They grabbed lunch first at a little diner that served prosciutto sandwiches on fresh baked rolls. With their hunger satisfied, Gina took them on a walking tour to her favorite sights throughout the city, not the usual tourist spots but places she, a local, particularly loved: a little shop that sold handmade blankets which most people didn't know about, the statue of the Appennine colossus, a hidden garden path behind a well known museum. And when they at last felt their feet were about ready to fall off from all the walking, she led them to her favorite jazz night club where they peeled off their coats and hats and sat in the warm darkened atmosphere, ate a leisurely supper—sneaking small portions to their kwamis—enjoyed local drinks, and listened to live music late into the night.

All three of them were in a relaxed and happy mood when they walked their way back to the apartment. Sparkling white Christmas lights strung between the buildings overhead made the chilly air feel festive rather than uncomfortable. They chatted merrily and laughed often. As they rounded the last turn on their way back to the apartment, they heard a group of carolers singing _Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle_ under a Christmas tree in the park.

Adrien, noticing that Marinette was shivering in the cold, wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close to his side.

It was after midnight when they finally climbed the steps back into Gina's apartment and began pulling off their coats and scarves once more.

"Tomorrow we will go to the art show," Gina sighed. "I have a friend who entered in the painting contest. And for breakfast we can go to my favorite caffeteria. You've never had real coffee until you've had it in Italy!"

"That sounds great, grandma," Marinette yawned and collapsed on a chair.

"We've had a wonderful time, so far, Mrs. Dupain," Adrien said, pulling off his shoes. "Don't feel like you have to wear yourself out for our sake."

"Psh! Nonsense! You two should come with me on a biking tour through Spain sometime, that will be a _real_ adventure!"

"I believe it," he chuckled. "Just listening to some of your stories is adventure enough." Then he yawned, too.

"Okay, you two need some sleep or you'll be no good for tomorrow. Your bedroom is right over there, across from the _bagno_. I've set out fresh towels and linens for you. Just make yourself at home. And let me know if there's anything else you need." She kissed Marinette on the forehead and headed into her bedroom with a breezy, "goodnight, you two!"

"Wait, she's putting us in the same bedroom together?" Adrien asked, his brow furrowing.

"Well, we are engaged, in case you forgot." Marinette arched an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah…but I just thought, with the way your father…"

Marinette rolled her eyes. "My dad's a bit more traditional. And, like I pointed out earlier, he still thinks of me as twelve years old."

"Yeah, I guess so." He was still looking toward the bedroom with a pensive frown.

"Is there a problem?"

He blinked and shook his head. "No…no. No problem. I mean, we've slept in the same bed before. Nothing wrong with that." He took a deep breath.

Marinette smiled. The last time they'd actually slept together in the same bed was over a year ago, after Chat Noir had received a gunshot wound to the head and she'd carried him home, unconscious. That also happened to be when she'd discovered that Chat and Adrien were the same person. That had been a very eventful night.

"Okay, then." She stood, grabbed her trunk, and purposefully walked to their bedroom. Adrien quietly followed behind.

Their bedroom was small, as she'd expected it to be, barely big enough for the double bed and a single dresser. The soft glow of streetlights filtered in through crimson curtains over the window, giving the room a warm, exotic ambiance. Tikki and Plagg floated out sleepily and nestled into a fluffy blanket on the dresser together.

Marinette set her trunk on the floor while Adrien closed the door softly behind them.

That's when she suddenly realized that she was in over her head. Her heart started hammering in her throat. She swallowed hard, trying to force it to settle back down. She felt Adrien's silent presence behind her like radiating heat.

With all her talk of being more intimate, not worrying that they were sharing a room, and pointing out that they were engaged, she realized that she'd never actually taken off her clothes in front of him before.

Yes, they'd slept together in a bed once. But that really was all they'd done. She'd changed into a set of his pajamas in his bathroom, alone, while he had changed in his bedroom.

Despite her show of confidence, Marinette suddenly felt as nervous and awkward with him as she ever had before. She was sure that if she tried to speak now, only stammering nonsense would come out of her mouth.

Adrien cleared his voice behind her. "If…if you would like to use the shower, you can go first."

She took a breath. "Oh, um, yeah. Long day. It's…I…shower, yeah. You want to take one, too?"

Of course she stammered and babbled, just as she'd known she would.

"Sure!" he answered, breathing a sigh of relief. Then he blinked and his eyes widened. "I mean… after you're done, of course. There's probably not room for two in there… And even if there was, I wouldn't assume… um, you know… never mind. Go ahead. Just forget I said anything else, okay?" He laughed weakly and rubbed the back of his neck, not meeting her eyes.

A tiny yawn came from the blanket on the dresser. Two glowing green eyes blinked up at Adrien. "Smooth, kid. Real smooth," Plagg mumbled. Then he yawned again and fell back asleep.

Adrien scowled at his kwami, and of course Marinette had to giggle at that.

"I'll be back soon." She opened her luggage on the bed, grabbed her pajamas, toothbrush, and shampoo and hurried to the bathroom.

The warm stream of water helped her to calm back down a bit. She knew she was being silly. And it helped to think that Adrien—handsome, brilliant, confident, and nearly godlike in perfection—had seemed nervous, too. Still, her own nerves had taken her off guard.

"Maybe I haven't gotten past that crush as much as I thought I had," she grumbled. She almost expected Tikki to answer her, offering comfort or advice. But then she remembered that her kwami was already sleeping peacefully in the other room.

She sighed.

When she couldn't justify staying in the shower any longer, she stepped out and wrapped an oversized towel around her body, combed back her hair, brushed her teeth and eyed her pajamas folded on the edge of the sink.

What if she didn't put them on? What if she went back to that bedroom with nothing but a big, fluffy, red and grey towel wrapped around her body?

She could try to play it off casually. "Oh, hey Adrien. You can go ahead and use the shower now if you want. Or you could stay here with me." Then she'd grin and let the towel drop.

How would he react to that? She couldn't even imagine. Mostly because she couldn't imagine herself actually following through with that plan. She was getting all trembly just thinking about it.

"Ugh, Alya was right all along. I'm hopeless."

Begrudgingly, she hung up the towel and slipped into her pajamas. Then she folded her traveling clothes and crossed the hallway back to the guest bedroom.

Adrien was waiting on the bed, fully clothed still of course. He'd stowed their things in the closet and was writing a few more notes in his journal.

"Bathroom's all yours," she announced with a wry smile.

He didn't take as long as she had, probably because he wasn't internally freaking out like she had been. He returned to the bedroom, his wet hair in spiky disarray and wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt. Marinette scooted over to make space for him. He switched off the light and climbed into the bed next to her.

"So, is this going to be our routine while we're here?" she asked. "Dressing in the bathroom to preserve the innocence of each other's eyes?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, probably."

She rolled her eyes, then yawned and snuggled into his side. He easily wrapped his arm around her and kissed her still damp hair. It was so much easier to feel comfortable and un-awkward with him when they were close together, and alone, and in the dark.

"Probably?" She smiled. "I guess that means there's still a chance, then."

He sighed heavily and didn't answer. Marinette couldn't see the expression on his face, but she imagined he was probably rolling his eyes.

"Goodnight, princess," he whispered.

—

 **A/N: I am so overwhelmed by the response this has gotten. THANK YOU all for the follows, favorites, and reviews! I will do my best to keep updating as quickly as possible. I'll only say that things are about to take a turn for our favorite bug and cat duo. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

"So, have you two set a date for the wedding yet?"

Marinette bit her lip and looked away in an effort to keep from grinning. This was the question she'd been waiting for her grandmother to ask since they got off the plane.

The three of them were enjoying a leisurely breakfast of cantucci and espresso at a quaint little _caffeteria_ down the road from Gina's apartment. The weathered dark wood, green pine wreathes, and garlands woven with bright red holly berries made the whole place feel relaxed, warm, and festive. The smell of espresso, cinnamon, cocoa and vanilla enveloped the three of them as they sat on their benches at the bar, chatting comfortably. Or, at least it had been comfortably until Gina asked that particular question.

"Um, not yet Mrs. Dupain. We're not in that much of a hurry." Adrien shifted in his seat and took a tiny sip from his cup.

Gina raised her eyebrow and turned to Marinette. "It's really no business of mine. But I would love to meet my great grandchildren before I'm too old to be any fun for them."

Adrien coughed and choked on his espresso.

Marinette laughed, blushing. "Even if we got married tomorrow, we'd probably wait a few years before starting a family, grandma." Better to immediately drive the conversation away from _babies_ , that topic wouldn't be helping her cause at all.

"Yes, but an old woman can dream, can't she? I know you're still very young to even be getting married…"

Marinette scoffed. "Young? Grandma I'm turning twenty in three months."

Gina pursed her lips while Adrien wiped his mouth with a napkin, avoiding both of their eyes.

"Are you really?" Her grandmother asked, pursing her lips in thought. She seemed to be counting years in her head. "Yes, I suppose that is right. How on earth did you grow up so fast?"

Marinette rolled her eyes and shook her head with an indulgent smile. "Sometimes I think you forget that time passes for everyone, not just you."

Gina laughed. "So you aren't quite so young as I thought. Then what is the hold up? Why not set a date for the wedding?"

Marinette looked pointedly at Adrien. She felt a little guilty throwing him under the bus, so to speak. But all was fair in love and war. And this was both love and war.

Gina eyed Adrien quizzically.

He fidgeted. "I…um. Well, I just think we should focus on our jobs right now."

"Oh, I see. You're working toward a promotion? You want to be able to provide well for your new wife?"

Adrien's eyes widened in surprise.

Marinette giggled. "Not exactly, grandma. Adrien could provide for both of us by himself, even if I wasn't working, too." Trust her grandma to be the one person in the world who didn't understand who Adrien Agreste was.

"It's just, you see…" Adrien ran his hand through his hair nervously. "We've only just started at the company… and I think it would be… um, more prudent if we just…"

Watching him fumble with his words and meet her eye in a pathetic plea for help, Marinette's sense of guilt at instigating this interrogation started to overpower her vindictive pleasure in seeing him sweat.

She caved.

She grabbed her fiancée's hand on the table, interrupting his stuttering fumbled words, and looked at her grandma. "We're just waiting, grandma. We want the wedding to be at the perfect time, but we just aren't sure when that will be yet." She swallowed the lump in her throat.

Adrien visibly sighed in relief.

Gina sighed in resignation. "If it must be so, it must be so. But do tell me as soon as you two decide. I want to make sure I can be there."

"Of course, grandma." Marinette smiled weakly and turned her eyes to Adrien. He was looking at her with a peculiar expression, speculative, but also a little sad.

That's when she started to notice the sound of distant screaming coming from outside.

Adrien noticed it at the same moment. As one, they turned to look out the frosted front windows of the caffeteria.

"What is it?" Gina asked.

"It sounds like something's going on. Do you hear it?" Marinette said. Her heart was racing. It couldn't be an akuma. Hawkmoth was gone! Duusu was safe with Master Fu. It _couldn't_ be an akuma!

"It almost sounds like people at a concert. But I don't hear the music," Gina mused.

Marinette gulped and met Adrien's eyes, hoping he would concur with her grandmother. It had to be just a big group of people having fun. It couldn't be an akuma! But Adrien's expression was grim. His jaw was set. His eyes burned with green fire.

He suddenly turned to face Gina. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Dupain, I need to run back to the apartment. I left something important in my luggage that I meant to bring with us. I'll meet you two at the art show, okay?"

Without waiting for a reply, he threw on his coat and ran out the door.

"But… wait!" Gina called. "You don't have a key! What… why did he run off like that?" She turned to Marinette, confused.

"Oh, sometimes he's like that." She laughed nervously. "Probably that concert noise reminded him of something he forgot. But, you know, I'll take the key to him real quick. If I don't come back right away, we'll find you at the show." She took the offered key from Gina's hand and edged toward the door, sliding her arms into her coat. "Actually, which way is the art show?"

Gina pointed west, toward the ever increasing sounds of screaming. "At the _fortezza da Basso_ , about a kilometer down the road. But, my fairy—"

"Oh, it's okay, really. Um, better yet. Why don't you go ahead and wait for us here. It sounds like it's getting kinda crazy over there, you know and… um… we might not find each other very easily in a crowd." She was backing out the door now. Other diners were watching them with mild irritation at their loud conversation.

"But…!"

"Okay! We'll find you here as soon as we can! Bye!"

She darted out the door, stuffed the apartment key into her purse, and ran.

There weren't many alleys or hidden nooks in Florence. She couldn't see any convenient public restrooms or any other hidden private places immediately available. So Marinette ran to the next street over and made use of the gap between two dumpsters. Tikki flew out of her bag as soon as they were somewhat concealed.

"I don't have any idea what it is we're about to face." Marinette nodded toward the distant sound of screaming, growing fainter now, as though the crowd was getting smaller.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure Ladybug and Chat Noir can handle it." Tikki grinned, ever the optimist.

Marinette took a deep breath. "You're right. Let's do this quickly. We'll help those people and get back to my grandma before she get's too worried. Tikki, spots on!"

There was blinding flash of pinkish light. Tikki swirled in the air, vanishing into Marinette's earring as though sucked in by an unseen vortex. Marinette's clothes shimmered and transformed into her impervious spotted red suit. Her bag disappeared, replaced by a magical yo-yo with unbreakable cord. A thin mask appeared on her face, fixed as immovably as though it were one with her flesh. She felt immense power and endurance surge through her body, paired with a sense of supreme optimism. She was irrepressible. She was unstoppable. She was Ladybug.

Ladybug darted out from between the dumpsters and ran directly up the three story wall to the rooftop. From the higher vantage point, it was easier to see the maze-like layout of the city and get her bearings.

She couldn't make out much of the ground level, though. Everything before her looked like a sea of reddish brown rooftops criss-crossed with long straight gaps where roads were hidden below. She could spot a few green patches, where gardens and trees broke the continuity. Extravagant towers and cathedrals stood tall and proud over the lower buildings along the skyline. About a kilometer to the west she spotted a couple of low white rooftops which seemed to be the source of the dwindling screaming. She could hear it plain as day now, even though her super hearing was nowhere near as keen as Chat's.

She started running, leaping over the gaps between rooftops, making her way toward the sounds of danger.

Her yo-yo beeped, getting her attention. She unstrapped it mid-leap, and slid the top back to answer the call.

"Well, well. Fancy meeting you here, M'lady. What an astounding coincidence that we both happen to be in Florence right now," Chat Noir greeted, smirking at her from the screen.

Her heart sank at the implication. "You're right! This is bad, Chat. If anyone sees us here… I know several people at home who would be sure to make the connection! It could be a disaster."

"A real _cat-_ astrophe."

"Ugh, get some new puns." Ladybug rolled her eyes.

Chat frowned. "But I like that one."

"Let's just lay low the best we can. Are you there already?"

"I'm around the corner from the source now. It seems like a typical akuma attack. But he isn't hurting anyone at the moment, so I'm not going in until you get here."

She dropped to the ground right behind him. "I'm here."

Chat jumped and whirled around with a yelp.

"Scaredy cat," she giggled.

He snapped the com on his staff closed and laughed weakly. "That's also a good one. But a bit overplayed, too, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess. So what are we dealing with here?"

Chat nodded toward to the corner of the stone wall they were hiding behind. "Take a look."

She peeked around the edge. Chat came up behind her to look, too. "He seems to be turning things into art," he murmured.

A tall, slender figure, dressed in billowing black robes and wide brimmed hat, was striding through the open courtyard. He wielded an oversized paintbrush, waving it at random things as he went. Every object he swung his brush toward flew back violently, collided with a wall or other vertical obstacle, and was rendered into a two dimensional impressionist painting.

The brick walls, cars, and even a tree or two, were littered with hundreds of colorful works of art. Ladybug felt a flash of sickening rage when she noticed how many of the paintings were of people.

"You didn't see him hurting people?" She asked.

"No. There wasn't anyone left here by the time I showed up. I would have stopped him if I saw him—"

"I know you would have, Chat. I just… look at how many of those he's made already."

The dark figure was strolling along the deserted perimeter of the courtyard. He appeared to be admiring all the 'artwork' he'd created.

"Chat nodded and backed away from the corner. So, what's the plan, o fearless leader? Draw him into a building? Away from the city? Or just try to get him quickly?"

Ladybug took a moment to scan their surroundings. Chat was right, there didn't seem to be anyone left in the open, but there might be people watching from overhead windows. They would have to at least try to keep a low profile.

"All right, I think I have an idea."

Ladybug quickly explained her plan to Chat while the villain made a few additions to his grotesque gallery. A lamppost, a tree, and an old car were added in turn. Then suddenly a cocky male voice called out and distracted him.

"Hey, Michelangelo! Can I get a portrait done, too?"

The figure turned to look in the direction of the _Fortezza da Basso,_ where the voice had come from. His face was as white as sun-bleached bone, with only dark voids where his eyes must have once been.

Chat peeked out of the doorway. "Come on, there's a lot of nice artwork in here. Some people with real talent must have made them. Maybe you could learn a thing or two."

" _Tu chi sei?"_ The villain's voice was fathomless, like the sound of crashing waves echoing through a pit over a subterranean sea. It sounded deep, cold, and dead.

Chat paled and turned to Ladybug, who was waiting behind him with her yo-yo at the ready. "Scratch that. He doesn't even speak French! Do you happen to know Italian, M'lady?"

"No, not enough anyway. But I do have an idea. Brace yourself, Chat."

Chat widened his stance and held his staff at the ready.

With a flick of her wrist, Ladybug's yo-yo flew out, wrapped around the villain's ankles, yanked him off his feet, and drew him in like a fish on a line.

"Well, that wasn't so difficult, was it?" She straightened and grinned.

But she spoke too soon. The moment he stopped sliding toward them, the dark figure twisted around and slashed his brush in Ladybug's direction, she ducked and rolled out of the way in the nick of time.

There was a soft whooshing sound and a quiet thump when the presentation board behind her flew back, turning into an artistic interpretation of itself painted on the wall.

In the process of rolling out of the way, Ladybug had to release the villain's feet with her yo-yo to avoid getting tangled in the cord herself. She reeled it in and moved to flank his left side, opposite her partner.

"Okay, Chat. Looks like we need to get that brush from him."

The villain turned and took another swipe at her. She jumped out of the way as Chat tried to knock him down from behind. But he was on guard and dodged the blow from Chat's staff by darting behind an artists booth and retreating further into the building.

"Maneuver one, M'lady?" Chat asked while they crashed through the displays, trying to force their opponent into more open ground.

"Let's try it. Don't forget we're working with a language barrier here."

"Gotcha. I flatter myself that I can annoy people even when they don't know what I'm saying." He grinned.

Chat leaped through the air, landing on the other side of their foe among a display of fancy pottery. Several large, beautiful vases crashed to the ground around him.

"Yes, you're definitely gifted in that respect," Ladybug mumbled under her breath. With his super-sensitive hearing, Chat heard her perfectly, of course. He winced as another pot tottered and crashed to the ground. Then he winked, spreading his arms wide as though inviting the villain in for a hug.

"Oh, what an adorable super creepy faceless evil villain!" he crooned in a babyish sing-song voice. "Why don't you come over here and play with the kitty? Come on! That's a good freakazoid. Just a little closer. You know you want a nice hug! Kissy, kissy. Yikes!"

The villain had slashed upward toward Chat using a backhand motion, attacking before Ladybug had a clear shot at his brush. Neither of the heroes had been expecting that move, and he'd nearly tagged Chat with his power.

Without hesitation, Ladybug hurled her yo-yo at the brush the moment it was in view, a split second after Chat had dodged the unexpected attack.

It hit the artist's brush with a satisfying crunch, and the tool flew out of his hand in two pieces.

"Yes!" Ladybug cheered.

"Awesome!" Chat joined in, pumping his arm in victory.

The villain roared in rage and turned to glare at Ladybug with his eerie hollow eyes. Then he dashed across the floor toward the broken brush.

No akuma was coming out.

No akuma?

Ladybug snapped back into action a moment too late, leaping from tabletop to tabletop to get back in position, swinging her yo-yo while the villain grabbed the bristled half of his broken paintbrush.

"No!"

She felt Chat's body ram into her from the side. She heard the whoosh of the villain's power. She felt Chat's grip tighten convulsively. Heard him scream in pain. Then they landed together on the floor.

Even though her heart was racing, and she knew that Chat must be hurt somehow, her first instinct was to defend. She pushed Chat's body off of her and stood over him, spinning her yo-yo and facing the enemy, ready to fight.

But all she saw was black billowing robes vanishing out the far door.

"He left…" That was a first. She couldn't remember a villain ever walking out on them before.

Chat moaned.

She instantly turned to him, lifting him up into a seated position. "What happened? Are you hurt?"

"He got me," Chat gasped.

Ladybug looked down and was horrorstruck by what she saw. His left leg ended at the knee. And on the wall across the room there was a stylishly painted rendition of a black leg, mid-jump.

—

 **A.N. Poor Chat, he always seems to be the one who ends up hurt, doesn't he? How do you think the dynamic duo will fight this new villain with a missing leg, no akuma, and having to stay hidden? Drop a review! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

Ladybug stared, frozen in place for a few seconds while Chat gripped his leg, groaned, and rocked in pain. Then she snapped back into action.

"Oh, crap. How badly does it hurt? What can I do to help?" She fluttered over him, trying to figure out how to help, but he waved her hands away from his knee.

"Yeah, it hurts. Crazy bad. It feels like he ripped my leg off. I guess he kinda did." He groaned again and doubled up.

Ladybug sat down, grabbed her partner, and hugged him while he trembled. His breathing was shallow and quick. She could feel his pulse thudding rapidly against her chest.

Their superhero personas rarely ever got hurt. The hero suits they wore were nearly impervious. And, while they were transformed, their bodies were incredibly resilient. Getting slammed into the pavement hard enough to leave cracks was distinctly uncomfortable, though. And, as Chat had proved once, getting shot in the head with a gun could leave them bleeding and unconscious for a few seconds.

Akuma powers could affect them just like anyone else, though. Ladybug had once been trapped in a time bubble, stuck in slow motion. And she'd had parts of her body 'pixelated' and rendered useless. Chat had been disadvantaged by akuma powers more times than she could remember. But this was the first time that a villain's superpower had actually _hurt_ one of them before. And Ladybug was sick with worry.

This injury wasn't from an akuma. So did that mean that her miraculous ladybug power wouldn't fix it? Were all of those people, the ones transformed into artwork, permanently dead? Would Adrien be missing a leg for the rest of his life? Should she make him transform back and rush him to a hospital? What about Plagg? The last time Chat had been hurt, his kwami had suffered as well. The thought of Adrien's adorable and spunky kwami getting his leg ripped off sickened her nearly as much as seeing Chat in pain.

Chat's trembling started to subside. His breathing evened out. "We need to follow him," he finally murmured. "We need to catch up and end this. Can you help me up?"

"Wait, Chat, I think maybe you should stay down a little longer."

Chat scooted back to lean against a desk, breathing deeply with his eyes closed. He still looked very pale.

Ladybug brushed the golden hair away from his brow, studying his face for any sign he might be about to get sick or faint.

"What happened? What went wrong?" He asked. His tone wasn't at all accusatory.

"Thereks no akuma. I was just sort of expecting to see a black butterfly. But there isn't one."

"No akuma…"

"It makes sense. I realize that now. No more Hawkmoth means no more akumas."

"So how do we defeat this guy?" His breathing was evening out. And the color was slowly returning to his cheeks.

"I'm not exactly sure. He acts like an akumatized victim: bizarre outfit, superpowers, evil and destructive. But obviously he's something else."

"Like the Trash Krakken in New York? Like Hawkmoth?"

Ladybug's mouth fell open and she stared at Chat. "Yes. Yes! Exactly like that! I'm such an idiot, why didn't I see it sooner!"

Years ago, when the two of them were still in high school and learning the ropes of hero work, they'd been called to New York to help Night Owl, Sparrow, and other American superheroes defeat a villain they called the Trash Krakken. This villain had displayed powers dependent on a physical object, very much like an akuma victim. But there had been no akuma present. Instead, the object—a toy belonging to the victim's daughter—had been contaminated with a mysterious sparkly black substance. Ladybug had purified the toy, cleaning the substance off of it, and freed the victim.

Later, after Gabriel Agreste's death, they'd been going through his belongings and discovered that a locket he'd owned, and had carried with him everywhere, was also contaminated with the black substance. The same black substance they'd found in New York, which seemed to feed off of negative emotions and corrupt the mind of it's owner.

"What are you thinking about?" Chat winced, pulling himself up straighter and gingerly touching the stump of a leg he had left.

"You're right. It's exactly like the Trash Krakken and Hawkmoth. And that's really good news. When we defeated the Trash Krakken, everything he destroyed went back to normal. So all those people should be fine. And you should get your leg back."

"Well that's a relief."

"I think this guy somehow found some of that black substance. Maybe he was an artist and wanted to use it in his work. It is kind of pretty and sparkly. But then something must have happened to make him angry or sad and set it off."

"Okay, so you need to purify the brush, just like you did the toy and the locket."

"Right, I think that's it."

He tried to stand. She gently pushed him back down. "You know, Chat, I think maybe you should just stay here."

He narrowed his eyes. "You're not doing this alone."

"Chat, you're _missing_ a _leg_!"

"You think I haven't noticed?"

"And you look like you're about to pass out."

"I'll be fine. I've gotten over the worst of the shock. You're not doing this alone."

She sighed. She really couldn't argue with him. The last time she'd fought a villain on her own, his dad had died. The time before that, she'd nearly died herself. And, at least in that case, their kwamis had confirmed that it was because Chat hadn't been there. With Chat's bad luck unavailable, her good luck had quickly run dry.

"All right. But I have a feeling this is going to be much more difficult than we expected."

He chuckled bitterly. "Yeah, it's been a real walk in the park so far."

"Sounds like you're starting to feel a little better." She scrutinized his face. He was still slightly pale.

"It's getting better." He grinned wryly and chuckled. "Hey, want to give me a _leg_ up?"

Ladybug rolled her eyes and stood. "That's horrible, Chat."

He hissed in pain when she lifted him onto his good leg, then took out his staff to use as a crutch and smiled. "Don't worry, M'lady. I'll just walk it off!"

Ladybug groaned.

Following the dark artist was no easy task. The villain had left them as dismissively as though they were unwelcome fans begging for an autograph when he had more important things to do. He'd just strolled out and down the street without a backwards glance.

With Chat finally up and in slightly better spirits, hobbling on one leg and using his staff as a crutch, the two stayed close together as they crept from the building.

"It really would have been better if he'd stayed here," Ladybug sighed, scanning the scenery and trying to determine which direction their adversary had gone. "Without this building for cover, I don't know how we're going to keep from being seen now."

"Maybe we'll have to wait until nightfall." He grimaced.

"And let him run around turning people into paintings?"

"We could follow him from the rooftops, that would make it less likely for us to be filmed at least. But I don't see how we could really fight him in the open without being noticed."

Ladybug furrowed her brow. "We'll have to at least try. Are you ready?"

Chat nodded.

She grabbed him around the waist, cast her yo-yo up at the roof of a six story building, and swung them both up to the top.

"I'm pretty sure this is the way he went. I don't remember those paintings from before." She pointed down at the artwork scattered along the buildings going up the street.

"All right, I'll take the other side so we can have eyes on both sides of the street."

"Can you handle that?" She glanced at his stump of a leg.

He scoffed, planted his staff, and launched himself into the air. Ladybug watched him, heart in her throat, while his body arced over the road and landed in a slightly awkward roll on the roof of the building across the street.

Chat retracted his staff, spun it a few times, then clipped it to his back.

"Show off," she muttered.

He grinned and shrugged.

"Fine, but if you can't keep up I'm coming to get you."

For answer, Chat crouched down, gripped the roof with his hands, and started running like a three-legged cat. He wasn't quite as fast as usual, but he was fast enough, pushing off with his one good leg, pulling with his clawed hands, then pushing off again.

"That dratted cat!" Ladybug jumped to keep up with him from her side of the street, dropping down to the next building, sprinting, and jumping along the rest. She was a little worried about their exposed position, up on the rooftops with no cover. Chat was a little better off than she was in his black leather outfit. Her bright red suit was terribly conspicuous.

She was also worried about Chat. He seemed to be acting fine. But he had to be hurting. That scream of pain when his leg was severed from his body had been no joke. And for a couple minutes she'd been pretty sure he was on the verge of passing out or vomiting. Maybe a burst of adrenaline was helping him push through it now, but he still had to be suffering.

Both of these worries were pushing her to end this fight as soon as possible and get everything back to normal.

Chat and Ladybug kept a mostly southerly direction, following the evidence the artist left for them like a trail of breadcrumbs. They'd gone a good kilometer down the road, keeping up high and out of sight, when Ladybug started to wonder just how fast this villain was moving. When they'd met him he was ambling along like a normal person. But if he'd gone this far in scarcely five minutes, making his destructive artwork the whole way, he had to have some abilities they hadn't seen yet. Or, even worse, maybe they were going the wrong way! They could be backtracking along the path he'd taken before they found him at the convention center. Maybe he was in another part of the city altogether now, hurting people and destroying property with no one to oppose him.

She was about to call Chat over to discuss her concerns with him when her partner got her attention himself, waving his staff and pointing ahead, a little to the east. She looked and didn't see anything relevant, just a large cathedral towering over the rest of the city.

She glanced back at Chat. "What is it?"

He tapped his black cat ear with a claw, then waved for her to join him.

Ladybug nodded and leaped across the road to join him on his rooftop. Chat didn't wait to explain things to her. He just started running again the moment she landed.

"You hear something over there? By the cathedral?" She asked, keeping pace with him.

"More screaming," he answered, grimly.

They were getting closer. She started to hear the screaming herself and picked up her pace, leaving Chat behind.

She crested the peak of the last roof and took in the scene below. The dark artist was there, of course. He'd apparently come to take advantage of a Christmas celebration on the lawn. The crowd parted before him like a school of fish met with a shark. The villain wielded his broken half of a paintbrush like a sword, slashing through the air at the terrified people: men, women, children, old people, babies. They disappeared in groups, flying back and smacking into the nearest walls, transforming into grotesque artwork. Sometimes his brush would only get parts of people, their lower halves, arms, or legs, and then their screaming wouldn't stop.

Ladybug felt a surge of sickening rage fill her. Concealment be damned! She wasn't about to let this continue.

"We have to stop this now, Chat! We'll figure something out later if we have to." She glanced back and saw the horror on Chat's face mirroring her own as he observed the brutality taking place on the ground. He nodded once and together they jumped.

The crowd of people seemed almost as frightened of them as they were of the villain. Chat clambered and rolled, using his good leg and arms to maneuver surprisingly well. Ladybug could tell from his expression that he was still in a good deal of pain.

They flanked the villain, attacking from both sides and dodging the invisible attacks directed at them from his enchanted paintbrush, distracting him while the rest of the crowd dispersed.

When he seemed to realize that he couldn't easily dispose of his enemies, the artist tried to make an escape. He made a sudden dash toward the road. It happened so abruptly and quickly that Ladybug almost didn't see him move.

Chat, with his staff divided in two smaller weapons, hurled one of his rods at the villain, knocking him down. Ladybug cast her yo-yo at the same time, catching him around his left arm. But he skidded back toward them only a few meters before managing to twist out of the cord.

"He is a slippery one," Chat said, catching his half staff on the rebound.

The villain darted in a different direction, heading across the courtyard. Ladybug hurled her yo-yo, catching a distant rooftop, swinging herself over to head him off. When she landed in front of him, the artist swung his brush at her three times in rapid succession, leaving her no chance to get her bearings or prepare an offense.

Chat's staff swiped low under the villain's feet, surprising him and knocking him down. He jumped up again quickly, backing a couple of paces to face both of them.

"I think we could use a lucky break about now, don't you?" Chat called, readying his staff for another attack.

Ladybug nodded and threw her yo-yo into the air. "Lucky charm!"

Her yo-yo flashed in the sun, gleamed with a pinkish white light, and a small object dropped into her hands.

It was a small, red, glass container with black spots and a twist on lid. It looked kind of like a large bottle of nail polish. She had no idea what it really was, though, or what she was supposed to do with it.

"Watch it, Ladybug!"

She jumped out of the way just in time as the dark artist swung his brush at her, causing the tree behind her to uproot and slam into a building, flattening into something that almost looked like a Van Gogh painting.

"That one's actually not half bad," she mused.

"Yeah, I hate to interrupt your art appreciation. But can we please move things along?" Chat rolled out of the way of an attack and countered with a swing of his staff, wincing in pain every time he moved. The villain seemed to be just as fast and agile as the two of them.

She looked around, trying to figure out what to do with her lucky charm, but was coming up with nothing. Probably because she didn't really know what it was she was holding in her hands.

"Sorry. Just a second, Chat. Try to distract him while I figure this out."

"No problem. Take your time," he panted. Chat launched himself into the air, landing with a pained grunt between Ladybug and the villain.

Ladybug ran to the nearest wall and twisted the cap off of the red bottle. She was amazed to find that the cap was attached to a small paintbrush. And the bottle was filled with red and black spotted goop, like a very thick and slimy paint.

Could this be some sort of cure for the painted people? Maybe it was some sort of magic that would restore them. Maybe it would restore Chat's leg? That wasn't how her lucky charm usually worked, but she had to try something.

With Chat fighting the villain valiantly behind her, she pulled the brush out and started painting the goop over one of the artists victims. She frowned when nothing seemed to happen. The stuff went on the wall smoothly, leaving a thick red residue with black spots, and then got all sticky and wouldn't spread.

"It's glue?"

Something smacked into the wall next to her. She looked up to see a painted interpretation of a metallic staff just to the left of her head.

She whirled around and jumped out of the way. Chat was still battling the villain with one half of his staff, rolling on the ground and bracing himself with his arm when he needed to. The fight had gotten much closer to her. Chat's face was grim and determined, fighting to keep the villain from getting any closer to her. The artist looked like he was desperately trying to get to the wall.

And suddenly it made sense!

"Wait! Back off, Chat. Let him go to the wall!" She retreated, moving herself into position while Chat scurried out of the way.

Seeing his enemies retreat, the villain didn't pursue them. He watched them silently with his eerie expressionless face, backing toward the painting which Ladybug had vandalized with her glue.

When it was clear they weren't going to attack him again, the dark figure turned to the wall, raised his brush, and tried to clear the glue away. But, luckily, the brush stuck to the glue so firmly that he couldn't get it away from the wall again.

"Now, Chat!"

Chat knocked the villain away from the wall as Ladybug's yo-yo, shining bright white, swung down, capturing the brush. She reeled it in and opened the trap. A perfectly clean paintbrush, free of any trace of the evil black substance, clattered on the ground.

She tossed the container of glue into the air, shouting, "miraculous ladybug!"

The container burst into thousands of tiny glowing ladybugs which swarmed around them. They restored the people, the trees, the cars, the benches. They restored the artist to his normal self. They restored Chat's staff and his leg.

Chat nearly collapsed in relief. Instead he swayed a little, then ran across the lawn and embraced Ladybug. "Oh, that was awful! Thank you!"

"Silly, kitty. I should be thanking you!" She laughed in his ear. "I would have been out of the game entirely if not for you."

A strange clicking noise coming from all around them made them both look up.

The recently restored crowd of people was gathering around the two heroes. Many of them had their phones out, taking pictures. A few people were approaching them, exclaiming with wide smiles and bright eyes things in Italian which Ladybug and Chat Noir couldn't really understand.

"Um… This…might be a problem." Chat frowned.

"Yeah, no kidding. But there's not much we can do about it now."

They consented to taking one picture with an adorable little girl before hurrying away from their enthusiastic admirers.


	5. Chapter 5

Ladybug had just enough time to get back to the dumpsters behind her grandmother's apartment before her transformation wore off. She tucked her exhausted kwami back into her bag and ran up to the door. Adrien was there already, leaning against the wall with his hands stuffed into his pockets.

"My grandma gave me the key," she said, pulling the keychain out of her bag and unlocking the door.

"That's good." He smiled, shouldering away from the wall. "Otherwise we'd have to get creative to explain why we've been gone for so long."

Marinette chuckled. "Yeah, and I'm starting to run out of creative excuses."

She switched the light on in the kitchen and pulled a scone out for Tikki, setting it on the counter where her hungry kwami settled down to eat it.

"Don't I get any food?" Plagg whined, hovering in front of Adrien.

"What?" Adrien's eyes narrowed. "We didn't use cataclysm. You're fine!"

"Come on. Just a little nibble of cheese?" He blinked his wide green eyes up at Adrien.

"Oh, all right. I swear you're just a floating stomach." He walked over to the refrigerator to search for suitably smelly cheese for his kwami.

"How's your leg?" Marinette asked. He seemed to be using it all right, with no evidence that it had been severed from his body. But she was still nervous about it.

"It's perfect. I can't even tell anything happened." He bounced on it experimentally a couple of times to show her, then put a piece of gorgonzola out for Plagg. The black kwami dove right in.

"The bigger problem," Tikki piped up, "is the fact that so many people saw you two. If it gets into the news in Paris, we know at least one person who is bound to find out about it. And she's not likely to leave questions unasked."

"Alya," Adrien and Marinette sighed together.

"What are you going to tell her?" Plagg asked around a mouthful of cheese.

Adrien shrugged, turning to Marinette. "I think we should just play dumb. We were here. There was a villain. Ladybug and Chat Noir showed up, too. We were as surprised as anyone."

"That's another thing that's bothering me." Marinette frowned. "Why did this happen here? And why now? Just when we show up? It seems too coincidental. Could someone have known we were here and created this villain to draw us out?"

Adrien frowned, too. "You're right. I wish we could talk to that artist, ask him what happened. Someone might have planted that black stuff on him to get to us."

Plagg suddenly went alert, turning to the door with his ears twitching. "She's coming!" He squeaked, and darted into Adrien's pocket.

Tikki instantly jumped up as well and dove into Marinette's bag.

"Uh…What's our excuse for being here still?" Marinette asked. Mostly she was talking to herself out of long habit.

"I… um… I dunno… maybe…" Adrien looked around the room uncertainly.

They heard steps outside the door.

Going with her gut, Marinette grabbed Adrien around the neck and planted her lips firmly against his.

He went rigid with surprise at first. Then he seemed to melt into her. His arms wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her closer. His lips parted, and she felt his warm breath on her mouth. Marinette raked her fingers through Adrien's hair, deepening the kiss, and he hummed appreciatively. She started to wonder why they hadn't really been doing this already. They could have had so much more time alone together…

The door opened and Gina stepped in. She smirked when she saw them. "Oh, I see. I was wondering what was taking you two so long."

Marinette released her hold on Adrien's neck, but he kept one arm around her shoulders, grinning at the ingenious alibi.

"Um, sorry grandma." Marinette blushed. "I guess we kinda lost track of the time." How long had it been since they left the caffeteria? She should have looked at a clock or something. It felt like they'd been gone for hours, but it had probably been only about twenty minutes.

"Well, did you find what you were looking for?" Gina smiled at Adrien.

He blinked and remembered what he was supposed to be doing there. "Ah, yes. I wanted to bring my camera. I've got it right here." His fancy SLR camera was sitting in its case on the counter next to them. He grabbed it and slung the strap over his shoulder.

Gina smiled indulgently at them, then she sighed and frowned. "Well, it seems there's been some trouble at the art show and they've cancelled it for the rest of the day. But don't worry, I have plenty of other ideas. We can go to the museum and see Galileo's middle finger. Or, if you two were set on seeing art today, I can take you to see Michelangelo's secret drawings. Or—" she leaned in toward the conspiratorially, "—I have a friend at the local dealership. We could borrow a Ferrari and go test drive it on the country roads as long as you like."

Adrien's eyes widened at the last offer.

"Wow, grandma. That sounds really fun. But, did you say there was trouble at the art show? What kind of trouble?" Marinette wanted to get a feel for what the news might be picking up now.

"Well, I'm not too sure, my fairy. That friend of mine, the artist I told you about, he just sent me a message saying that when he went to the building, it was surrounded by police and news crews. Something about a dangerous criminal or an attack of some kind. But nobody seems to have been hurt."

"Oh, well that's good at least." Marinette frowned. It was hoping for too much to expect that her grandmother's friend would turn out to be the villain they'd saved. They might have been able to ask him a few questions if that had been the case.

"Well, come along, you two!" Gina grabbed Marinette and Adrien's hands, leading them toward the door. "We can't waste the day here. There's so much to do!"

—

"We'll just say it was a surprise to us, too," Adrien murmured. "Lame explanations like that always work the best. The more elaborate the excuse, the more phony it sounds."

They were gathering their luggage at the airport in Paris. The villain attack in Florence had indeed made headlines. And the news had gone straight to Parisian networks because of the two particular superheroes who had saved the day in Italy. It was all over the newspapers, on the televised news, and social media as well.

"Ladybug and Chat Noir have gone abroad before. It's not without precedent," he added quietly, rubbing his thumb soothingly along the back of Marinette's hand.

"It's different this time."

He sighed. "But there's nothing else we can do. We just have to hope for the best."

"God, Adrien, what if my parents figure it out?!" She slapped her free hand against her forehead, trying not to imagine how completely unraveled her dad would be if he knew the truth.

"Then we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. The only people who might make the connection are people we trust. And most of them are used to us being a little… capricious."

Her dad was waiting for them with his car when they walked out of the big double doors.

"Welcome home!" He shouted, picking Marinette up in a tight bear hug and swinging her around. "How did it go, sweetie? Your grandma doing okay?"

"Yeah," she laughed. "Grandma's fine. I think she's actually settling down a little. I'm not nearly as exhausted as I was last time she had me for a visit. She didn't even suggest skydiving. Maybe she was taking it easy on Adrien, though."

Adrien's eyes flashed to her face. "Really? That was taking it easy?"

Marinette and her dad laughed together.

"You two weren't mixed up with that villain thing with Ladybug and Chat Noir, were you? I can't believe how crazy it is. The one week you go to Florence and…"

"I know! It's crazy," Marinette interjected. "We were so surprised to hear that they were there."

"We weren't at that art show," Adrien added. "You'd think, with Hawkmoth gone, those kinds of things wouldn't happen anymore."

"I'm just glad to have you two back safe and sound." Tom put an arm around Adrien's shoulders and gave him a small side hug as well.

"How's everything at the bakery, dad?" Marinette asked while he loaded their luggage into the trunk.

"Oh, you know. It's Christmas." He chuckled and shrugged.

"Yeah, I do know." She laughed. "I'm surprised you insisted on giving us a ride home."

"My baby girl isn't going to take a cab home from the airport!" He closed the trunk firmly.

"I have a car and a driver," Adrien offered, quietly. "If you were too busy I could have…"

"No, not at all. It's my pleasure. I needed a break anyway." His face had gone bright pink. Marinette thought it probably had something to do with the way he'd called her his 'baby girl.' He wasn't quite ready for her to be a grown, independent woman yet. It was probably the same internal motivation that prompted him to argue with her whenever she suggested that she could move out of the bakery and get her own place.

When they arrived at the bakery things were every bit as chaotic as Marinette knew they would be. Seeing how thick the crowd was, Adrien gave her a quick kiss goodbye at the door, promised to see her that night, and called for his driver to come pick him up.

Lugging her trunk in through the crowded sales floor, Marinette almost knocked several boxes of croissants, cookies, and macaroons.

"Oh, Marinette. Welcome back!" Her mother, dusted with powdered sugar and looking frazzled, greeted her from behind a nearly finished croquembouche.

"Hi, mom. I'll take my luggage to my room and come help, okay?"

"You really don't need to—"

"I insist. You guys look like you're running behind. I don't mind taking the register for a while."

Sabine Cheng sighed and smiled. "Thank you, dear."

Marinette was already tired from traveling all morning. And after working another six hours at the bakery, ringing up purchases and answering questions, she felt ready to drop by the time they closed for the night.

After they cleaned up the sales floor, her mom pulled out a pot of blanquette de veau which had been simmering in the oven all day, one of Marinette's favorite meals.

"So, tell me about your trip," Sabine said. "Did you guys see Ladybug and Chat Noir? It's all over the news that they showed up in Florence."

Marinette winced internally. "Um, yeah. I mean, no. We didn't see them. But they were there. We saw it on the news."

"Well, I guess it's a good thing they were there to save the day." She brought her teacup to her lips and took a small sip.

"Yeah, that's right. They did save a lot of people."

"And it's a good thing Rena Rouge was here, too," her dad added.

"What?"

Sabine looked up from her tea. "Oh, there was another villain here. But Rena Rouge showed up to take care of it."

Marinette gaped. "Another villain? What kind? How did she take care of it?"

"We really don't know," her dad said. "Some guy was running all over, climbing buildings and causing accidents. He wasn't actually attacking people, I guess, but he was still causing trouble. Rena Rouge showed up and chased him away. No one seems to know what happened after that."

Marinette forced down the hundreds of questions rolling around in her head. She would just have to ask Rena about this. If it was a villain like the one she and Chat had faced, it wasn't really within the fox heroine's power to neutralize the evil substance.

She frowned into her plate, contemplating the significance of this development. Two villains within the space of a week, no akumas, and no Hawkmoth. So what was causing this?

"You look beat," her mother laughed.

Marinette lifted her head off of her hand. She'd been starting to doze.

"Why don't you go on and head to bed." Her dad patted her on the shoulder. "We can take care of the rest of this."

Marinette started to protest, but her parents insisted. So she climbed up her ladder into her bedroom, took a few minutes to unpack her trunk, then climbed the second ladder out onto her balcony.

"Well, Tikki. I guess we'd better go and figure out what's been going on while we've been away."

The little red kwami floated in front of her mistress. "Yeah, who would have thought two new villains would show up?"

"Right. Something's got to be done. Spots on!"

Ladybug raced through the icy night, her breath fogging and the wind biting at her nose. She was halfway to her destination when her yo-yo beeped at her. She slid the top up.

"Good evening, Chat. Care to join me tonight?"

"Always, Bugaboo!" Chat crooned.

Ladybug rolled her eyes at the old, annoying pet name.

"We're meeting Rena on top of the Notre-Dame," she said.

"I'm already on my way. Hey, did you hear about the villain here?"

"Yeah, and I'm anxious to hear what Rena has to say about it. See you there in a sec." She saw the towers of the cathedral ahead, snapped her yo-yo shut, and tossed it up, catching one of the stone figures and pulling herself to the roof.

Rena was waiting for her, pacing back and forth. She turned eagerly at Ladybug's approach, smiling and breathing a huge sigh of relief.

"I'm so glad you're back!" She said as Ladybug landed in front of her. "I feel like I totally suck at this. I just know I messed it all up."

"Whoa, now. Hold on. I heard you did a great job and even saved the city from a new super villain."

Rena grimaced. "Well I…"

A low thud announced Chat's arrival. They both turned as he sauntered over, twirling his staff and clipping it onto his belt with a flourish.

"Good evening Rena Rouge. I heard you joined the big leagues while we were away."

She snickered at him. "Hey Chat. I heard you guys saw a bit of action, too. It's all over the news."

"Oh, that? It was nothing. Just a little exercise to help keep us limber."

"Really? You're sure you're not pulling my leg?" She arched an eyebrow.

Chat blinked and turned to Ladybug. "I do believe your friend is teasing me."

Ladybug snorted. "You walked right into that one, Chat."

Rena laughed and Chat shrugged good-naturedly, conceding the point.

"Anyway," Rena continued. "I was about to say that I didn't actually fix the problem. I just sort of…contained it."

Ladybug nodded. "Tell me everything."

"Come with me. I'll explain on the way."

Rena leapt off of the building. Ladybug and Chat Noir followed, and the three of them raced away from the city while Rena explained.

"I was spending a few hours every night patrolling, just like you suggested, and nothing much happened for several days. Then, just when I was starting to think that I wouldn't get to see any real action, this guy shows up. He wasn't trying to hurt anyone, really. He just seemed to want to run all over the place and do fancy tricks, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, doing backflips down stairs. Basically just moving around the city the way we do. Only he was disrupting people, causing accidents, and putting himself in danger, too. Nin…uh, a guy I know told me he was doing parkour."

"Yeah, I've heard of that," Chat said. "It's sort of a non-combative martial art, all about finding the most creative and efficient ways to get around. So, how'd you deal with him?"

"That's the problem. I didn't. I couldn't. I feel kinda bad about this but…" They were approaching a small brick building at a deserted corner of a park. The surrounding area was overgrown with shrubs and vines, the road cracked and degraded. The park had once been an army installation a long time ago. Now only a few disused buildings, like this one, were left to show for it. Thumping and crashing sounds were coming from the small room inside.

"He's still like this," Rena sighed, gesturing toward the building. "All I could do was trick him into going in there and lock him in so he wouldn't hurt anyone until you got back." She grimaced and bit her lip, looking apologetically at Ladybug.

"You did a good job, Rena. Thank you for explaining what happened. Do you have any idea what caused his transformation?"

"Not really. You mean, like an akuma?"

Ladybug shook her head. "Unless things went very, very wrong while we were gone, there are no more akumas. But the guy we faced in Florence had some black substance on him. It's something we've seen before. It acts like an akuma, contaminating an item on the victim, something they're wearing or something they're holding."

The three of them watched the man in the room for a few minutes. He ran from wall to wall, doing backflips and forward rolls, swinging from the overhead lamp, jumping off the table.

"Look, there!" Chat said, pointing a claw at the man's right shoe.

"Yeah, I see it now," Ladybug said.

"Good eye, Chat Noir!" Rena smiled.

Ladybug nodded. "Let's do this."

"Do you guys need a hand?" Rena asked. She clenched her fists eagerly, hoping to see some more action.

"He might try to escape when we open the door," Ladybug said. "It wouldn't be the first time—"

"Or the last, probably," Chat chuckled.

"So we could use you out here to help catch him if that happens."

Rena nodded understanding bracing herself for a fight.

Ladybug opened the door.

Immediately, the man made a break for it. Chat was ready with his staff, blocking his escape. But the villain—if he really could be called that—grabbed the staff and used it to swing himself around.

Ladybug's yo-yo flew from her hand, wrapped around his ankle, and brought him down.

Rena darted in, pinning him to the ground.

Chat grabbed his leg and pulled off the contaminated shoe.

"Here, Ladybug!" He tossed it high into the air.

Ladybug traced her finger along the seam of her yo-yo, spun it once, and swung it up in a high arc, catching the shoe in the glowing trap. When she opened her yo-yo again, a plain sneaker dropped out and the victim was sitting, dazed, on the ground.

Ladybug tossed her yo-yo into the air again, shouting, "miraculous ladybug!" Familiar glowing motes burst from the sphere, swarming the area and flying out through the city. Ladybug couldn't see any immediate changes, but it was possible that her miraculous power might repair some damage, so it was better to be safe than sorry.

"What…What happened? Where am I? Ladybug? Chat Noir?"

"Don't worry, dude." Chat clapped him on the shoulder. "Everything is okay now. We can take you home, if you like."

"But, why am I way out here in the middle of nowhere? Did I become a villain?"

"Well, sort of, yeah," Rena said, shrugging. "But don't worry. It happens to the best of us."

Chat raised a curious eyebrow her direction. He still wasn't in the know about Rena's true identity. He'd never even asked. But this statement of hers seemed to hint that she'd been one of Hawkmoth's victims, so he was probably wondering which of the villains he'd fought had been her.

"I actually want to ask you about something." Ladybug crouched down next to him. "You had some black sparkly stuff on your shoe, like tar or glue. Do you know where it came from?"

"Huh? No. I was just going for a jog. Next thing I know, here I am."

"Where were you jogging?" Chat asked.

"On the Daumesnil sport trail. I always jog there. Can I…go home now?"

The three heroes exchanged glances.

Chat nodded to Ladybug. "I'll meet you there." Then he turned to the jogger. "I'll take you home now. Just let me know where to drop you off. Oh, and you might want to hold on tight."

With that, Chat grabbed the surprised man, tossed him over his shoulder in a fireman's carry, and sprinted away.

Rena and Ladybug raced eastward together toward the park where the man had been jogging. They followed the trail, studying the ground for any sign of contamination, but couldn't seem to find anything.

"It's so dark out here," Rena complained, after they'd gone two circuits around the trail. "Do you think we should come back in the morning?"

"Need a little help?" Chat dropped to the trail in front of them with a smirk.

"I think we do," Ladybug said. "Let's see what you can find with your night vision, Chat."

He bowed gallantly. "Happy to oblige, M'lady."

They followed him up the trail at a swift jog. Chat trained his eyes on the dirt path at their feet, scanning back and forth quickly so as not to miss anything. They'd gone nearly the whole way around when he stopped by a muddy patch near the corner of a little wooden bridge. "Here it is!"

Rena and Ladybug knelt down to look. "I…don't see it," Rena said, doubtfully.

Chat walked to the edge of the trail and pulled a strip of bark out of the bushes. Then he scooped up a clod of mud, holding it out in the light of the moon. A section of the mud sparkled dimly.

"How did it get out here?" Ladybug breathed.

"What is it?" Rena asked.

"We don't know." Chat shrugged. "All we know is that it was in New York, and on my… on Hawkmoth before he was defeated, then in Italy, and now it's here."

"We have reason to believe the answer might be found in Tibet, though," Ladybug added, frowning at the sparkly black stuff.

"Tibet? What makes you think that?"

"It's tough to explain…without giving away too much." Ladybug shook her head, pulling out her yo-yo and running her finger along the seam again.

"But you guys plan to go to Tibet to look for these answers, don't you?"

Chat tossed the wad of mud into the air. Ladybug spun her yo-yo, casting it at the mud and catching it in the luminous trap.

"That is the plan, eventually," Chat answered. "We have some preparations to make first."

Ladybug opened the yo-yo and the decontaminated mud plopped to the ground.

"Preparations?" Rena asked. "Like finding a good alibi for your secret identities to go to Tibet?" She arched an eyebrow and folded her arms.

"Well, yeah." Ladybug shrugged, clipping her yo-yo at her hip.

"Well, why don't you just use your honeymoon as cover?"

Ladybug and Chat froze in place, staring at Rena with open mouths.

"I mean, you rich folk can afford to honeymoon wherever you want for as long as you want, right? It wouldn't be too suspicious. And you're already engaged, so…"

"You know who we are?!" Chat asked, gripping his black ears in his fists. "How do you know?" He turned to Ladybug, pointing an accusatory finger at Rena. "How does she know?"

Ladybug groaned.

Rena started laughing.


	6. Chapter 6

Master Fu paced sedately back and forth along the wall. His eyes were half closed, his fingertips pressed together. To the casual observer, he would appear very calm and collected. But Marinette and Adrien could recognize that he was making an effort not to become overly agitated.

"So, would you like to tell me what exactly happened?"

Wayzz, Master Fu's kwami, hovered nervously over the old man's shoulder, glancing between his master and the young heroes.

Marinette clasped her hands nervously. "Um, where do you want us to start?"

"How about from the moment you realized there was a villain in Italy?"

"Well, we heard screaming when we were having breakfast with my grandmother…" She began.

"And we came up with an excuse to leave," Adrien said.

Master Fu nodded and listened silently while they explained the events that led up to them being plastered all over the news in Florence. And when they were finished, the Great Guardian stopped pacing and faced them.

"Tell me about when you got back."

"Well," Marinette began. "We met with Rena Rouge, as planned, and had to help her with the villain she captured."

"By that time she already knew who we were," Adrien said.

"And then?"

Marinette sighed. "I blew it."

Master Fu waited.

"All I said was, 'I knew she would figure it out,' but Adrien knew immediately who I was talking about. We'd already been worried about Alya figuring it out."

"Master Fu, sir, it's really all my fault!" Alya stepped forward from the back of the room. She'd been listening quietly, a little overwhelmed at finally meeting the guardian of the miraculouses. "I shouldn't have said anything. I was teasing them. If I'd just kept my mouth shut…"

Master Fu sighed and shook his head, waving his hand to silence her. "Well, this might be for the best anyway."

"Huh?" All three of them asked.

"These attacks were not isolated incidents. Attacks like these have started showing up more frequently in the last few weeks."

"There have been more?" Marinette was aghast.

"So, that means it wasn't really about us, in Florence." Adrien said.

"Likely not. Superheroes of other countries are doing the best they can, capturing the victims, restraining them so they can't hurt anyone. But they can't purify the evil that is corrupting them. The time has come to take the next step."

"What step is that?" Alya asked.

"Chat Noir and Ladybug must go to Tibet, preferably as soon as the weather is warm enough. You, Rena Rouge, will stay here in Paris, coordinating with the other superheroes of the world to fend of this menace, while Ladybug and Chat Noir seek out its source and stop it for good."

Alya gulped. "Master, I can't purify the black stuff. How am I supposed to…"

"We have Nooro now. He is able to grant you the power to contain the dark energy, breaking the bond between it and the victims."

"But, Master," Ladybug said. "Wouldn't Duusu be better for that?"

"Duusu will be going with you to Tibet." The master's eyes sparkled while Marinette and Adrien looked at one another in amazement.

"Rena Rouge, while your friends are preparing for their journey, there is much that I will need to teach you, and coordination that needs to be made."

"I understand, sir. But my husband will start asking questions if I'm away too much without a good excuse."

"You should bring Carapace with you, then. He will need to back you up, after all."

Alya breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, I have a hard time keeping secrets from him."

"Wait, Nino is Carapace?" Adrien asked, wrinkling his brow in annoyance.

Alya grinned. "I figured that out the first time he transformed."

Adrien groaned. "All my best friends were secret superheroes and I had no idea."

"Don't worry. He still hasn't got a clue about you two," she chuckled. "He's going to be mad that he's the last one to know who everyone is."

Master Fu cleared his throat to get them all back on topic. "Rena Rouge and Carapace will come here in the evenings, after the parlor is closed. I will teach you the skills you need to master this new kind of villain. And you two," he nodded toward Marinette and Adrien, "I am confident you will waste no time preparing yourselves for your new mission. Come here to collect Duusu when you are ready."

Marinette's eyes were on Adrien. His eyes were wide. He gave a small nod. "Yes sir."

Ice frosted the windows of the living room behind the bakery on Christmas morning. Marinette, her parents, and Adrien were seated around the tiny tree, all wearing fluffy Christmas sweaters that Marinette had made for everyone and sipping on hot cocoa.

Marinette's dad tore into red wrapping paper and opened the box inside. "Oh, Sabine, this is so great!" He pulled out a large digital food scale. "I can't wait to use it!"

"Well, I knew you had your eye on this one the last time we went to the culinary convention." She smiled and ran her fingers over the rubies in her new necklace, the gift from her husband. "But I feel bad for getting you something for work."

"Are you kidding? It's perfect. Exactly what I would have asked for." He leaned in and kissed his wife.

"Are you ready for your present?" Adrien asked, smiling at Marinette and blushing slightly.

Marinette's gift to Adrien had been a leather cross-shoulder satchel, stylish enough for business and durable enough for trekking through foreign countries. He lit up when he saw it, and was carefully packing all his gifts into the bag as he opened them.

"Yeah, sure," she grinned.

Adrien reached into his jacket pocket and handed her a small cream colored box tied with a green velvet ribbon. He shifted in his seat while she tugged on the bow. "It's not nearly as nice as the gift you gave me, of course. It's not new, and kinda small. I wish I…"

"Hush! Let me open my present!"

"Okay." He blushed deeper and shut his mouth.

Marinette pulled the lid off of the box and found an antique hair comb inside. It was brightly polished silver, and had an ornate collection of fire opals set in the base.

"That's so beautiful!" Sabine breathed, leaning forward to get a better look.

"It was my mother's," Adrien said, smiling shyly.

"Seriously? Thank you!" Marinette felt her eyes moisten. The significance of this gift wasn't lost on her. It wasn't just a hair comb. It was a message from Adrien. He was saying, in no uncertain terms, that he considered her to be his family now.

She lifted the comb out of the box and slid it into her hair. That's when she noticed a piece of folded paper in the bottom of the box.

Adrien took a deep breath and watched her carefully while she took the paper out and unfolded it.

 _May 11_

It was written in Adrien's handwriting.

"May eleventh?" She asked.

"Unless that date doesn't work for you, of course. I mean, the weather is usually nice by then. It'll give us some time to plan everything and send the invitations…"

"Really?!"

He smiled. "Yeah, really… _oof!"_

Marinette jumped onto him, squeezing around his middle with all her might. "Thank you! Thank you! It's perfect!"

He laughed and squeezed her back.

"Does this mean you're setting a date?" Sabine asked excitedly, her hands over her mouth.

"Yes!" Marinette squealed, still hugging Adrien.

Her dad sat still, staring with wide eyes until his wife elbowed him.

"Uh, that's great! Yeah. May, huh? That's, um, only four and a half months to pull it together."

"Don't worry, dad." She sat back, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I already did a lot of the planning. It should be a breeze! We will need to get you fitted for a tux, though."

Her dad's eyes widened even more at the mention of a tuxedo.

Sabine smiled and scooted closer to Marinette, hugging her tightly. "Our little girl, all grown up and getting married." Then she whispered in Marinette's ear, "Give your dad some time, dear. He's happy for you. He just needs a little while to adjust."

Marinette nodded and smiled back in understanding, brushing a tear of joy from her eye.

"Well, I guess you like your present," Adrien chuckled, and he added quietly, "sorry it took so long."

She smiled adoringly at him. "I understand why."

The months leading up to their wedding day were filled with planning and preparation.

Rena Rouge and Carapace occasionally joined Ladybug and Chat on their patrols through the city. The two junior heroes needed to get used to the routine and work out the kinks in their teamwork.

Master Fu somehow managed to get into contact with superheroes from other countries, explaining the situation with the new villains. Majestia, The Doorman, Night Owl and Sparrow—the American heroes—were immediately on board. They'd worked with Ladybug and Chat Noir before and respected the younger heroes' abilities. They assured Master Fu that they would do everything they could to help. Alya was thrilled to have the chance to meet and work with her old favorite hero, Majestia.

Adrien and Marinette spent a lot of their free time trying to sift through Gabriel's old books and journals. Sometimes they would actually find something that might be important, and Adrien would save it, writing down notes in his journal to keep it compiled and organized.

The new villain attacks didn't become any less frequent. Two or three times a week now they heard of one popping up somewhere in the world. The heroes of different countries always managed to handle it on their own, only occasionally coming to Master Fu for advice at Majestia's recommendation.

Marinette and Adrien did, of course, make plans for their 'honeymoon' as well. They had to arrange flights, hotels, tour guides and the like. Adrien took note of every reference he could find on his parents' trip to Tibet, making sure they would know where to go to pick up the lost trail.

Marinette, her mother, and Alya did most of the preparation for the wedding itself. They made sure everyone got fitted for their tuxedoes and dresses, chose the menu and ordered the food, hired a decorator and reserved the venue.

After weeks of covert work, Nino managed to pull together an epic surprise bachelor party for his best friend, an all night event in the dance hall of the Grand Paris Hotel.

When Marinette's birthday came around, only a week before the wedding, she was so preoccupied with work, wedding planning, and preparing for Tibet that she almost didn't remember. She had taken a break from designing jackets for the next _Gabriel_ fall line to sample some cake flavors her father had prepared: chocolate cherry coconut, and matcha with sweet cream.

"Hmm, I really like them both, dad." She took another nibble of the chocolate cake.

"Do you like these more than almond praline?" Her father was scrutinizing her expression with an intensity usually reserved for epic Mecha Strike III battles.

Marinette's phone buzzed. She pulled it out of her bag to look at it. She'd received a text from Sasha, their garment technologist. She wanted to talk about materials for the new scarves and hats they were developing.

"Um, yeah, I don't know, dad. I really like them all. It's hard to choose a favorite."

She started texting Sasha back when the little bell above the door dinged, announcing Adrien's arrival.

He took a deep breath through his nose. "It always smells so awesome in here. What is it this time? Chocolate strawberry?"

"Close," Tom smiled. "Here, why don't you have a taste and tell me what you think? Marinette can't seem to make up her mind."

Marinette finished her text and tucked her phone back into her bag while her fiancé tried the cake samples.

"Wow, is that matcha?" Adrien asked

"That's right, Japanese green tea. The color is a bit much, but I can work it into a springtime design with other flavors and the green will work."

Marinette felt her phone buzz again. She pulled it out with a sigh while her father explained to Adrien all they ways they could work around a green cake color.

It was Gabin this time, their marketing specialist. He wanted to take a few members of his team with him to the store opening in Milan, and apparently he couldn't get ahold of Adrien to ask him.

She sort of noticed her father taking the leftover cake samples back to the kitchen while she started typing a response.

"What's going on?" Adrien asked.

"Oh, you know, the new store in Milan is opening in a couple of weeks. Gabin wants to take Adele and Sergio to help him."

"And he's asking you? That's not a design issue."

"No, but I do have the authority to approve his request."

"Marinette, did you give all the department heads your personal phone number?" His eyes narrowed.

"No, of course I didn't!"

He folded his arms and stared at her.

"But I do have my work number forward calls and texts to my personal phone," she admitted.

He sighed. "Look, you can't let these guys walk all over you. Your time is far too valuable to be wasted on these kinds of problems. And besides, I don't think you should be working today at all."

He pulled out his phone and started dialing a number.

"Why not? It's a weekday." She asked.

He laughed and shook his head at her. "It's your birthday, silly. I've come to steal you away for the day."

"Wait, it's already Friday?" She started counting days in her head, wondering how she'd lost a day or three in all the confusion.

"And, um… what time can we expect you two to be back?" Her father asked, returning from the kitchen. She caught an undercurrent of grumpiness in the question, and realized that this would be her last birthday at home with her parents.

Adrien seemed to realize this, too. "Is there a particular time you would like us to be back?"

"Well, now, I, um…" Tom shifted his eyes, trying to come up with something.

Obviously her parents were planning some sort of 'surprise' and her dad didn't want to spoil it.

"Can we be back by dinner time?" She asked Adrien. "I wouldn't want to miss a birthday dinner with my family."

"Yes, of course."

"Will that be okay, dad?"

"Yeah, yeah, dinnertime would be just fine." Her father visibly relaxed.

"Just give me a minute, Marinette." Adrien said. "I need to make one phone call before we go." Adrien pressed the call button and took a few steps away toward the wall.

"You know, dad, I think I like chocolate cherry coconut the best."

"You do?"

"Yeah, it's classic but with a twist. I think everyone else will love it, too."

"I do have a few other flavor ideas you could try…"

"No," she laughed. "No more flavors, dad, please! We're getting down to the wire and I just want to know that the cake is planned and ready to go now."

Her father laughed, too. "All right, sweetie. You know I only have this one chance to make a wedding cake for my little girl. I want it to be perfect."

She put her hand on his arm. "It will be, dad."

Adrien ended his call and walked back toward them with a smile. "Ready to go, Princess?"

Marinette slung her bag over her shoulder and smiled. "Ready."

The brisk air of early spring was refreshing on her cheeks, the sky overhead was palest blue, and the sun shone golden and bright, casting hard, crisp shadows on the ground.

"So, where are we going?" Marinette asked, taking Adrien's arm.

"I really don't know," he shrugged. "It just seemed like you needed a chance to relax, so let's go for a walk together. Happy birthday, by the way."

Marinette laughed. "I can't believe I lost track of the days like that."

"Well you're working yourself too hard. You're doing the equivalent of three full time jobs at least." He frowned.

"Speaking of which," she said. "Who were you calling in there?"

"Gabin. I gave him permission to take up to three team members with him to Milan. I also told him not to bother you with problems that aren't design related unless it's an emergency." He was still frowning.

Marinette hugged his arm and sighed dramatically. "My hero! Whatever would I have done without my knight in shining armor?"

They laughed and Adrien rolled his eyes. "It's funny because it's true, you know."

"Oh, stop. Or I might start to take you seriously."

They slowly made their way eastward, through the _Park Esplanade des Invalides_ and along narrow less-busy streets.

After about an hour they ended up at the _Jardin Luxembourg._ They found a nice sunny place with a bench near a stone statue of a stag. Adrien brought out a picnic lunch he'd stashed in his satchel.

"I have a feeling this bag you gave me is going to come in handy," he noted, drawing out a carafe of wine and two stainless steel goblets.

"On our 'honeymoon', you mean?" She smiled.

He smiled back and nodded.

Marinette took a long sip of the wine and sighed. They were seated around the corner of a large tree, with a nice view of an open lawn surrounded by wide flowerbeds. Nobody was within earshot of them at all, so they could talk candidly with one another.

"That's one of the reasons I designed it to be so utilitarian," she said. "We might need to do hiking, and we might need to do business, and that bag should be pretty good for both."

"You are truly a genius, Marinette. I just wish I could give gifts half as well as you do."

"Don't be ridiculous! This is a wonderful birthday present. And the Christmas presents you gave me are the best I ever received."

He raised an eyebrow. "Really? Me finally doing something I'd already agreed to do is a good present?"

"Well…" She shrugged. "It's not just that. It's more… what it means. We're getting _married_."

Her heart started beating faster and she willed herself not to start blushing.

Adrien eyed her skeptically. "Yeah. We're getting married, so we can run off to do difficult and dangerous work. That's hardly a good gift. I already knew how you felt about that, too. After I handed you the box, I kind of felt like a jerk trying to pull that off as a present."

Marinette nodded thoughtfully and scooted closer to him so she could lean against his side. "I did… I do sort of wish the two didn't have to be mixed. But that doesn't mean we won't be having a real wedding or a real honeymoon together."

Adrien's eyes widened a little. "Um, Marinette… You aren't thinking…that on our honeymoon we're going to be…?"

She watched him in perplexity while he struggled with his words. "We're not?"

He grimaced. "Nothing has changed. Whatever is out there is still out there. And, if anything, it's getting stronger. I don't want to risk anything happening to you."

"B-but… that's just ridiculous!"

"I don't think it is."

"I'm already on the pill and everything!" She hissed, glancing around to make sure they were still quite alone.

This seemed to throw him for a moment. Then he shook his head. "You know how bad my luck can be."

"And we know how _good_ my luck can be!" She retorted.

This also made him pause. Then he sighed. "If we did…and something happened that put your life in danger, I would never be able to forgive myself."

Marinette scowled at the rocks at her feet. It was difficult to be angry with Adrien when he said things like that. She understood why he was hesitant, and that nothing had happened to make him change his mind. But she still felt a deep sting of rejection. And she couldn't help feeling the old insecurity, the fear that gorgeous, perfect, unattainable Adrien Agreste could never really want anything to do with her.

As if he could read her mind, Adrien's arms were suddenly around her and his lips pressed into her hair. "Marinette," he murmured softly. "M'lady…do you have any idea how much I want to be with you?"

Her heart suddenly leapt into her throat. "N-no. Not... I mean, with… I…"

Adrien chuckled and rested his brow on the top of her head. "Maybe you don't realize this, but I've been out of my mind in love with you since the first day we met. I want to have a real honeymoon with you so bad I can't think straight most of the time. If I was sure that your safety wouldn't be compromised, I'd bring you to my condo right now so we could do what your father probably thinks we're doing, and then his suspicion of me would be justified."

Marinette couldn't speak anymore. She was just trying not to hyperventilate.

Adrien took a deep breath, kissed her hair, and lifted her chin. He gazed into her eyes for a long moment, then smiled. "But since I can't, I'll just have to give you another gift." He pulled a clumsily wrapped box out of his satchel and handed it to Marinette with a sheepish grin.

Marinette wryly smiled back at him and slid her finger under the corner of the wrapping paper.

Two things had become clear to her. First, Adrien had no intention of having sex with her until after they defeated the mysterious evil residing somewhere in Tibet. And second, she was prepared to do everything in her power to convince him otherwise.


	7. Chapter 7

Adrien and Marinette's wedding attracted a ridiculous amount of media attention. With the reporters and cameras and circling helicopters, one would have thought that royalty was getting married on the lawn of the Musée Rodin. A very expensive security detail kept most of the media attention at bay. Adrien wondered just how bad it would be if word got out that this wasn't only himself, the famous Adrien Agreste, getting married, but also the wedding of Ladybug and Chat Noir, the city's most celebrated heroes. There would be pandemonium on an epic scale.

The wedding itself passed in a blur, with few choice moments locked firm and sharp in Adrien's memory. He remembered standing in his dressing tent before it all started, trying calm the butterflies in his stomach while Nino helped to straighten his bowtie. Adrien's hands had been shaking too badly.

He remembered waiting in front of the vast crowd of people and cameras, watching as the rest of the wedding party marched down the aisle, and wishing that his parents could be there.

He remembered finally seeing Marinette as she shyly walked down the aisle on her father's arm. She was wearing the white dress she'd designed for the occasion. He was sure it looked breathtaking on her, but all he could really recall was the joy sparkling in her bluebell eyes.

Adrien remembered the moment when they were pronounced husband and wife. He bent down to kiss Marinette amidst whistles and cheers from the crowd.

He remembered holding Marinette close while they danced, her head resting against his chest while his arms wrapped around her shoulders.

It felt like it might have all been a dream when, dressed in comfortable travelling clothes, they were finally running through a shower of bird seed to the safety of the back seat of his shiny luxury sedan.

"Your luggage is all secured, sir. To the airport?" Adrien's driver asked.

"The gate for Air France, please," Adrien answered, brushing bird seed out of his hair.

"Of course, sir."

"Are we sure we didn't forget anything?" Marinette asked, glancing back at the trunk of the car.

"Don't worry," he assured her. "We have everything that's really important. I double checked it all this morning. If we find we need something more, I'll stock us up when we get there." He shrugged and smiled. Their honeymoon luggage would seem surprisingly rustic and practical to anyone who assumed they were on their way to a relaxing vacation. They had changes of clothes and basic toiletries, of course. But also a compact two-person tent, sleeping bags, a camp stove, a large knife, fire starters, canteens, a collection of waterproof maps, a compass, a first aid kit, and a few other things which had come highly recommended on hiking and survival websites. All of it was stuffed into two top-of-the-line ergonomic hiking packs.

Marinette scooted close to his side. Adrien wrapped his arm around her and kissed her chastely.

"I'm sure being fluent in Mandarin will come in handy," she noted.

Adrien chuckled. "Yeah, that'll help for sure. That's probably why my father had me tutored in Chinese for all those years."

Marinette snuggled against Adrien's side while they rode to the airport together. He couldn't deny that the intimate proximity filled him with conflicting desires.

He knew that Marinette didn't share his concerns about the hazards of physical intimacy. They'd had several near-fights about it. And their tenuous ceasefire could very easily be coming to an end tonight. He didn't really think that Marinette would resort to whining or begging. That wasn't her style. He was more worried that she would do something subtle to try to crack his resolve. He didn't know what exactly she would have in mind, and that made him nervous. It also made him kind of excited and curious, and that was a very bad thing.

 _Get your head out of the gutter, Agreste! Curiosity killed the cat, remember?_

Adrien and Marinette had la première first class tickets to Xi'an where they would have an overnight layover. The next morning they'd fly into Lhasa and begin their search around the Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple. Those were the first places his parents had visited on their tour over five years earlier, so it seemed a good place to start.

When his driver dropped them off, they were treated like royalty through the airport, escorted by staff members the whole way, greeted by name to check their baggage, driven to the gate, and treated to five star dining in a luxury lounge while they waited for their plane.

When it was time to board, they had a private jetbridge just for the two of them with an assistant to help them with their luggage. Their oversized seats were in the middle of the cabin, with more leg room than anyone actually needed. They had television screens, high-end headphones, access to any in-flight movies they wanted, and instant service whenever they pressed the call button.

"I'm starting to feel kind of spoiled from all of this," Marinette murmured while a flight attendant poured each of them a glass of Bollinger.

"It's our special day." Adrien smiled and nodded thanks to the attendant. "Don't worry," he told her, grinning. "If I understand anything about where we're going, we'll be really roughing it soon enough."

"Yeah," Marinette smiled, too. "So, to the adventure ahead?" She raised her glass and Adrien did the same.

"To the adventure ahead."

The flight to Xi'an lasted ten long hours. Being in first class, they had the luxury of folding their seats flat for sleeping. Still, when they landed, it was the middle of the night by their time and early morning by Xi'an time. They'd gained seven hours and were horribly jet-lagged.

A crew member guided them to their hotel and gave them a phone number to call when they were ready for the shuttle to pick them up in the morning.

"I don't get it," Marinette yawned, rubbing her eyes. "I thought I was used to being up most of the night. Something about the sun rising at midnight makes it so much worse."

"I know what you mean," Adrien said, opening the curtains on their window and looking out on the city. It was already buzzing with activity. Cars, mopeds, and pedestrians bustled about the street in the sleepy morning light. "At least the room seems comfortable enough. Maybe we can get a couple hours of sleep."

Their hotel room was small and minimalist in design. Pale tan walls and floor offset with a burgundy bed runner and a mahogany desk and headboard. It felt warm, comfortable, and made Adrien want to lie down and sleep.

Plagg was still snoozing him his jacket pocket, so he pulled it off, careful not to disturb his little kwami, and hung it up in the closet.

Marinette was sitting on the bed and peeking into her purse.

"Is she asleep, too?" he asked.

"Yeah, they're probably going to be out for hours, still." She smiled and shrugged. "Maybe we should just stay in the room and let them rest for a while."

Great. So now they were alone together, in a comfortable room, with a very convenient bed, nothing else to do, and both of their kwamis were asleep. That was just perfect.

"I kind of want to sleep, too," Adrien yawned, keeping some distance between himself and Marinette, hoping that it would help somehow if he wasn't close to her. It didn't seem to be working.

"Well…" Marinette smiled and walked across the room to him. Adrien felt his tension rise with every step she took. What was she going to do? Did he have the will to resist her at all? Did he even want to anymore?

But Marinette just carefully hung her bag up in the closet next to his jacket. "You've heard what they say about jet lag, right?"

"Um, I can't say that I have." His face and neck felt too hot. He kept trying to remind himself why it was important not to do all the things he wanted to right now. He was starting to have trouble remembering them.

"You're supposed to just stay awake until an appropriate bedtime." She beamed at him innocently.

Adrien swallowed. What were they really talking about? Oh, jet lag. Right. They had to stay awake to beat jet-lag. "Yeah, but what… I mean, there's not really much to do here." He chuckled nervously and looked around the room. His face heated when his eyes came to rest on the bed.

Marinette nodded thoughtfully, then climbed up onto the mattress.

Adrien sucked in an unsteady breath.

"I'll just find something to watch on TV," she announced, picking the remote up off of the side table.

Adrien sighed. "Okay. I think I'll go take a shower. If you feel up to it later, we can go out and get some food when Plagg and Tikki wake up."

"Sounds great!"

Adrien pulled out a change of clothes, marched himself to the bathroom, and turned on the water.

While his shower was heating up he stared into the mirror and took a few deep breaths. He hadn't imagined it would be this difficult, just being with her. Marinette wasn't even doing anything. She was just… there! But just knowing that she was there, and that she wanted him, and she would most definitely say yes… It was enough to make him crazy.

He stripped down and stepped into the shower. The water was still a little cold, but that was a good thing.

He could hear the sound of a TV show coming from the bedroom. He recognized it as Sunny Camp, a popular Chinese game show with competing teams doing entertaining or ridiculous challenges. He used to watch it all the time to practice his Mandarin.

That really seemed to make it hit home for him. They were in a new country now and they had dangerous challenges ahead. They were both relying on his ability to communicate with the locals. Their home and their friends and family were far away. If something happened to Marinette once they were deep in the wilderness, he would be hard pressed to find help for her.

"Don't be an idiot," he growled quietly. He bent his head under the stream of hot water, letting it soak his hair and run down his face and shoulders. "Get ahold of yourself."

Just then the bathroom door opened and Marinette walked in.

Adrien jumped back in surprise, nearly slipping on the wet shower floor. Only a thin, clear, glass wall separated the shower stall from the rest of the bathroom. It was mostly fogged over by now, but he could still see her fairly well. Which meant that she could see him, if she wanted to.

"Um… M-Mari…? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. I just want to pull the rest of these pins out of my hair." She faced the mirror, started extracting the hair pins, and set them on the counter by the sink.

"Oh, uh, I could help with that if you want… when I'm done with my shower."

"Don't worry about it. There aren't that many left. They're just starting to pinch." She slid another pin out of her hair. "I should've taken them all out a long time ago, but my hair has so much product in it it'll look like a disaster once they're out." She laughed. "I need a shower, too."

Adrien's heart jumped into his throat. He coughed, trying to force it back down. "Um, sure, I'll be done in just a minute."

"No hurry, take your time." He voice was calm and cheerful. He didn't trust it.

Then he watched as she slid her camisole off her shoulders, folded it, and set it on the counter next to the hair pins.

What was she doing?

Next, she pulled her shirt over her head.

Adrien couldn't form coherent thoughts, let alone words. Marinette's bare form was obscured somewhat by the fog on the dividing glass wall. But he could still see the smooth cream color of her back and shoulders as she unfastened her bra and discarded that, too.

Marinette didn't say anything more as she removed her last remaining articles of clothes. She just stood in front of the glass wall, facing the mirror, and ran her fingers through her dark hair, which was sticking up here and there from copious amounts of hairspray.

The fog on the glass did leave some details to the imagination. But that somehow made the view even more enticing. Adrien found himself with two voices in his head. One was screaming, "don't come in here! Please don't come in here!" The other was begging, "come in here! Please come in here!"

But Marinette just reached for the hook by the door and took down a white fluffy bathrobe, sliding her arms in the sleeves and tying it around the waist. She turned to face Adrien and it looked like she was smiling.

"I'll be waiting on the bed," she announced, as cheerful as ever. Then she left.

When she was gone, Adrien realized that he was breathing heavily. His heart was pounding.

"Oh dear lord," he moaned burying his face in his hands.

It took him several more minutes to pull himself together. When he finally did, one thing was abundantly clear to him. This was no innocent occurence. She hadn't come into the bathroom to pull pins out of her hair and put on a bathrobe. This was a direct and premeditated attack. And it was a damn good one, too.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's note: Sorry for the VERY long delay in updating, guys! I've been extremely busy with my published works this past year. I promise I haven't abandoned this fun project. I want to see it finished, too!**

...

Marinette was rather pleased with her little experiment. She'd been nervous going through with her plan, but now that she'd done it, she felt a giddy sense of victory.

Adrien's reaction had been almost perfect. Almost, because even though she'd hoped that he would invite her to come into the shower with him, he hadn't.

Oh well. It was a long shot after all. And she knew this was a war of attrition. She had to wear him down over time until he didn't have any fight left. That meant she would have to be patient.

When Adrien emerged from the bathroom, hair darkened and spiky from being towel dried, Marinette grinned at him from the bed.

"Well, the shower is all yours now." He smiled and chuckled nervously.

"Thanks." Marinette hopped off the bed and paused on her way to the bathroom to give Adrien a kiss which he cautiously returned, eyeing her suspiciously.

When she had finished washing away all the makeup and product residue in her hair, feeling more like herself again, Marinette left the shower and wrapped an enormous towel around her body. She dried herself off a bit, then stood at the bathroom door, hesitating.

She'd purposely not brought any clothes into the bathroom with her so she couldn't chicken out. But now she was faced with the moment of truth. She would either have to walk out into the bedroom wearing nothing but a towel, or she'd have to call him through the door, pathetically begging for some clothes to put on.

"Ugh, don't be stupid. Just do it!" She finally growled to herself under her breath.

She straightened her shoulders, held her chin high, pushed open the door and walked out.

"He's not here," came a sleepy familiar voice came from the bed. Tikki was relaxing on one of the pillows, a little red and black lump tucked into the clean white fabric.

Marinette let out a huge breath, not sure if she should feel relieved or frustrated. "Where did he go?"

Tikki yawned. "I think he went down to the lobby. He said something about us all going out to see the sights."

Marinette stomped her foot. "What? We just got here!"

Tikki sighed and gave Marinette a look that said, _you know why he's doing this._

"Fine. I guess I'll get dressed." Marinette rummaged through her luggage until she found a stretchy dress and comfortable but stylish walking shoes, clothes she'd packed for whenever they happened to be in civilization.

Once she had her clothes on, Tikki settled into her bag while Marinette twisted her damp hair up into a bun, and they headed out of the room.

Adrien was waiting in the lobby of the hotel when she got there, reading a pamphlet. He looked up and smiled when she called his name. "I was thinking that we could walk around the city for a bit and maybe get some breakfast."

Marinette sidled up to him and peeked at the pamphlet he was reading. It was all written in Chinese, of course.

"What are you reading?"

He unfolded the pamphlet so she could see the pictures inside. "Just some advertisements for local shops and attractions. There's an antique store nearby, a few good places for _char siu bao_ , a zen garden, and of course the old city wall. Did you know it's over seven hundred years old?"

Marinette was starting to get a little interested in spite of herself. "That does sound fun. But let's not stay out too late. I want to get some sleep before our flight tomorrow." She yawned, adding emphasis to her words.

Adrien grinned. "Of course!"

The ancient city was fascinating, beautiful, and intimidating. It seemed like everyone stopped to openly stare at them as they walked down the street together. Some people even brought out cameras and took pictures.

"Are you famous in China, too?" Marinette asked. She didn't see any posters of Adrien, the super-hot fashion model, plastered anywhere.

"No, I think it's probably because I have blonde hair, actually. It's supposed to be lucky or something." He ran a hand through his golden hair and chuckled.

Sure enough, Marinette saw a couple with a camera snapping pictures of Adrien and animatedly making motions to his hair.

"Wow," she breathed.

"Hey, are you hungry?" Adrien had stopped in front of a shop in the wall of the stone building they were walking past. Steam was billowing out of an opening above. One side was open and a young Chinese lady was taking orders. Behind her, a man was working, quickly placing buns in round bamboo baskets and then stacking them over pots of boiling water.

"That smells wonderful," she answered.

Adrien smiled and took her arm, leading her up to the window.

The lady behind the counter smiled expectantly at Marinette and looked a little surprised when Adrien placed their order instead, in perfectly fluent Mandarin.

When their order was ready, Adrien handed a couple of the steamed buns to Marinette. " _Zhūròu bāozi_ is my favorite. Be careful, though. The inside is scalding hot."

"You have to know how hot it is when you do that," she muttered, gingerly picking at the dough to let out some steam.

Adrien started in surprise and blushed. "Huh? When I do what?"

"Speak Chinese all smoothly like it's no big deal, even though I'm the one who actually has ancestors from this country." She nudged his side with her elbow and smiled as she took a bite of her bun. Adrien was right, the meat and liquid fat inside was hot enough to burn her tongue. But it was also incredibly delicious.

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Then he cleared his throat. "How about we look around at some shops? You can practice your Mandarin some, too."

Marinette chuckled. "You should have seen me the last time I tried to learn Mandarin. My poor uncle probably thought I had Tourettes."

Adrien laughed with her as she took his arm again and they walked down the row of buildings.

The streets were narrow and packed with people. Every half block or so there were street vendors selling grilled meat or rice bowls or fried dumplings. Marinette even spotted a few random chickens strutting around like they owned the place. But the strangely congested streets didn't stop cars, mopeds, and bicycles from squeezing through.

"Let's try that place." Marinette pointed to a shop front painted red with two golden lanterns hanging outside. A white ceramic cat sat in the window, waving its paw invitingly.

The room felt stuffy and smelled of dust when they entered. An old man seated behind the counter smiled brightly and greeted them in Chinese when he saw them, but didn't move from his chair.

"Look at all this stuff," Marinette breathed. There were vases, statues, books, figurines, intricately carved chopsticks, mirrors, strings of pearls, everywhere she looked she saw more amazing and beautiful items.

"Ah, French? You speak French? " the man asked with a thick accent, smiling even brighter than before.

"Yes, that's right," Marinette smiled back.

"Good! I need practice. The other shopkeepers all learn English. But French is more beautiful language."

"Well, you certainly know beautiful things!" Marinette said, admiring a silk fan with an intricate scene painted on it. She was afraid to touch anything, positive that her natural klutziness would destroy anything she laid her hands on.

"I think someone else knows beautiful things. Yes? Your boyfriend is a very lucky man."

"Husband, actually." Marinette smiled. "What is this one?" She leaned in to get a closer look at a small figurine tucked behind bigger and flashier items.

"Ah, husband, even more lucky then." The old man's smile stayed plastered on his face as he climbed out from behind the counter to see what Marinette was looking at.

On a small shelf in the corner by the window sat a small carving that looked like it was made of onyx. Completely black. It resembled a fierce black cat with wings.

The man's smile faded when he saw the figure. "Oh, you found one of the only unlucky things in my store. This is a carving of Qiong Qi, one of the four evils of China."

"Qiong Qi?" Adrien asked, coming over to look.

"Yes. It is said that Qiong Qi is ageless and powerful. He can speak the languages of men. But he confuses people's minds and takes joy in starting wars. He is a god of chaos and destruction."

Marinette and Adrien looked at one another for a moment.

"I'll take it," Marinette said.

"But...madam. This thing may bring you bad fortune. Are you sure..."

"Yes. I'm sure. I think even gods of chaos and destruction need good homes. Don't you?" She smiled at Adrien and he smiled faintly back.

The store owner took her money, wrapped the figure carefully in a newspaper, and tucked it into a bag for her, bidding her good fortune.

They left the store and Adrien led them to the stairs that led up to the top of the city wall. Hundreds of years earlier, this wall was a major military defense for the city. Now, it remained as a beacon of pride for the people of Xi'an and no small draw for tourism.

The wall towered twelve meters high and stretched just as deep from one side to the other on top. Marinette strolled along the stone walkway behind the battlements, gazing down on the protected city below. It was still early enough that not too many people were out and about, not even tourists. Now and then a jogger would huff past them, running shoes slapping against the hard stone.

They came to a place where the wall turned a corner at the edge of the city. An ornate watchtower stretched up above them, with a swooping curved roof and detailed stone carvings. Marinette leaned against the inner battlement to stare at the impressive architecture.

Adrien followed her, leaning against the wall close enough that his arm touched hers.

"Why did you buy that figurine?" he asked.

Something in his voice told Marinette that it wasn't just idle curiosity that made him ask. She raised an eyebrow at him, trying to figure out what he was thinking that made him sound so hesitant.

"Honestly? I think it's because it reminds me of Plagg. Cat god of destruction, dark powers, kind of dangerous, you know?"

Adrien chuckled, but still seemed nervous. "I can see that. But Qiong Qi is supposed to be truly evil. I've learned about him from Chinese Mythology classes."

Marinette laughed. "But maybe he's just misunderstood."

"Qiong Qi is not evil!" A little voice squeaked from Adrien's pocket.

Surprised, Adrien and Marinette looked down to see Plagg phase into view and hover just over the stone battlement. "Just because he has dark magic, doesn't mean he's evil. I mean, come on! I have dark magic, does that make me evil?"

"Nobody said you were evil, Plagg," Marinette soothed, confused at the little kwami's irate tone.

"And nobody said it was because his magic was dark..." Adrien added. Then he blinked. "Wait a minute, are you saying that Qiong Qi is real?"

"Yeah, he's real. A lot of these creatures that you humans think are just mythological are real and wandering around the world just out of sight."

Marinette glanced at the bag in her hand, remembering the fierce pose and vicious expression of the dark beast wrapped up in the newspaper within.

"Maybe he used to be good, but I think he took his job a little too far," Tikki chimed, poking her head out of Marinette's bag. "I mean, rewarding liars?"

"Yeah, but..." Plagg started.

"Starting wars?"

"You don't understand..."

"Stealing from the virtuous?"

"You aren't going to let me say anything, are you?" Plagg grumbled, his eyes in narrow, annoyed slits.

"I don't see how you can defend that kind of behavior!" Tikki said.

"Maybe because I always understood him better than you did! He did take after me more than he ever did from you."

Tikki's mouth fell open in indignation. "I think I understand him pretty well!"

Marinette and Adrien stared at one another for a second.

"Wait a minute! 'Take after?'" Marinette demanded.

"As in, how a child takes after his parents?" Adrien finished.

Plagg and Tikki frowned at each other for a moment. Finally, Plagg looked up at them and sighed. "Yeah, that's right. Qiong Qi is our offspring."


End file.
